


Hide Behind Your Screen

by Ginger_Snap



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Mentions of Panic Attacks, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Social Anxiety, Sort of Coffee Shop AU, Wrong Number AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-29 19:30:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8502556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ginger_Snap/pseuds/Ginger_Snap
Summary: (15:35) From:: Unknown: Hey Kageyama!!! Thnx for finally giving me ur # lol!  ☆*:. o(≧▽≦)o .:*☆
Kenma glanced at his phone. It was a wrong number. He let out a small sigh, deciding it was best to ignore it in hopes that the person would realize they had the wrong number and not text again. Kuroo glanced down at him from his spot beside the door of the train. 
"Who is it?"





	1. Chapter 1

_ (15:35) From:: Unknown: Hey Kageyama!!! Thnx for finally giving me ur # lol!  __☆ _ _ *:. o( _ _ ≧ _ _ ▽ _ _ ≦ _ _ )o .:* _ _ ☆ _

 

Kenma glanced at his phone. It was a wrong number. He let out a small sigh, deciding it was best to ignore it in hopes that the person would realize they had the wrong number and not text again. Kuroo glanced down at him from his spot beside the door of the train.

"Who is it?" He asked noticing it was Kenma's message app rather than his game. Kenma shrugged at his friend and closed the app before opening his game once again.

"Wrong number." He mumbled as he tapped at the screen methodically.

"And you're not gonna mess with them? Kenma this is a golden opportunity! Text them something funny back." The taller insisted with a devious smirk. Kenma glanced up at him before looking back at his game.

"No point, they probably already figured out it was wrong." He mumbled with a shrug. Kuroo let out a sigh and shook his head.

"One day you'll learn the art of the troll, one day." He said looking into the distance as if it was a prophecy. Kenma elected to ignore that and focus on beating the boss until their stop came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kenma had almost forgotten about the wrong number until he got another text when he got home.

 

 _ (16:05) From:: Unknown: Kageyama!!!! Ur going to ignore me!?!?!? U gave me ur # just to ignore me?!!? ( _ _ ಥ _ _ ﹏ _ _ ಥ _ _ ) _

 

Then another, they kept coming with hardly a pause between them.

 

_ (16:07) From:: Unknown: Kageyama~!!!!!!! Answer me! (_

_ 16:10) From:: Unknown: U said u'd help w/ learning the signals!!!!  _

_ (16:11) From:: Unknown: KAGEYAMA!!!!!!!! Y R U SO MEAN?!?!?!?! ( _

_16:13) From:: Unknown: _ _ ლ _ _ ( _ _ ಥ _ _ Д  _ _ ಥ _ _ ) _ _ ლ _ _ Answer plz!!! _

_(16:14) From:: Unknown: KA!! _

_ (16:14) From:: Unknown: GE!!! _

_ (16:14) From:: Unknown: YAMA!!!! _

_(16:16) From:: Unknown: Y do u hate me?!?!?!_ _┏_ _༼_ _◉_ _╭╮_ _◉_ _༽_ _┓_

 

Kenma sighed, after 10 messages he decided to text this person back. Coming to the realization that they wouldn't stop until he did.

 

(16:20) To:: Unknown: I don't hate you. But I'm not Kageyama either, you have the wrong number.

 

_ (16:21) From:: Unknown: WHAT?!?! Lol Nice try! It's totally U. U gave me this number!  _

 

(16:24) To:: Unknown: I think they gave you the wrong number then. I don't know anyone named Kageyama. Sorry.

 

_ (16:24) From:: Unknown: OMG!!! I'M SO SORRY!!!  _

_(16:24) From:: Unknown: He's soooo mean!!!!!_   _(_ _ຈ_ _﹏_ _ຈ_ _)_

_ (16:25) From:: Unknown: Plz don't hate me! _

 

(16:28) To:: Unknown: I don't hate you.

(16:29) To:: Unknown: I'm sorry your friend gave you the wrong number.

 

 _ (16:30) From:: Unknown:  _ _ ✿ _ _ * _ _ ∗˵ _ _ ╰ _ _ ༼ _ _ ✪ _ _ ᗜ _ _ ✪ _ _ ༽ _ _ ╯ _ _ ˵ _ _ ∗ _ _ * _ _ ✿ _

_ (16:30) From:: Unknown: its ok!! He's a jerk it doesn't matter!  _

_ (16:31) From:: Unknown: I can just talk to u!!! No one wants to talk to that jerk anyway!!! _

_ (16:31) From:: Unknown: Ur probably way cooler to! ^ _ _ ̮ _ _ ^ _

_ (16:32) From:: Unknown: I’m rlly bored so If u wanna talk we can!!!! _

_ (16:33) From:: Unknown: But if u don’t that’s okay! U don’t have to. Since I guess im like a stranger (^ _ _ ▽ _ _ ^;) _

_ (16:35) From:: Unknown: OH I'm Hinata Shouyou btw!!  _ _ ヾ _ _ ( _ _ ☆▽☆ _ _ ) _

 

Kenma stared down at his phone. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. This person knew nothing about him and he gave him his name. Did he really still want to text? Kenma let it go for a little while, leaving his phone in his room while he made dinner and washed the dishes. When he came back in his room and powered up his ps4 he glanced at his phone and noticed that he didn't have any new messages. Kenma grabbed his phone and read over the messages again. This person seemed over hyper and like they liked talking too much. They were probably the kind of person that Kenma tried to avoid because they took a lot out of him. And yet he didn't seem to mind the texts, they were actually nice aside from the improper grammar he didn't find much that bothered him about this stranger texting him. Kenma thought about it for a few more seconds before sighing and taping the text bar on his phone.

 

(17:53) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Kozume Kenma.

_ (18:02) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Hey Kozume!! Or do u like Kenma?? U can call me whatever!  _

_ (18:03) From:: Hinata Shouyou: What kind of stuff do U like to do???  _

_ (18:03) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Do U go to school???  _

__

(18:08) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Kenma is fine. You ask a lot of questions.

(18:08) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I like video games. No, already graduated Uni.

 

_ (18:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Rlly? Im in school. Im a 3rd yr its super boring sometimes!!! _

_ (18:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: SOrry!!! I like making friends. I can stop if U want!! _

_ (18:12) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I can tell U what happened when I was going to school!! It was rlly weird! _

__

(18:14) To:: Hinata Shouyou: It’s Okay, I was just making a comment on it. Sure, what happened on your way to school?

 

Kenma felt like he probably shouldn’t be encouraging this, that he should cut off ties with this stranger before things got out of hand and he ended up being killed or something. But he didn’t feel threatened by Shouyou, he seemed like he genuinely wanted to talk. It wasn’t like Kenma had something better to do, he rarely got texts from anyone but Kuroo or Lev, and he actively avoided the ones from the tall Russian. There was just something about the way Shouyou texted that kept Kenma interested in them.

 

_ (18:15) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OMG OK!  _

_ (18:15) From:: Hinata Shouyou: So Like I ride my bike to school rite and I hv to go thro this rlly quiet part of the city and like no one is ever there.  _

_ (18:16) From:: Hinata Shouyou: WELL TODAY my tire goes like BWAAA and im on the road trying to fix it. But like HOW?????? ┐( _ _ ﾟ～ﾟ _ _ )┌ _

_ (18:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou:. anyway 5 cars pass me. 5!!!!!!!!!! 5 Kenma! Then this car pulls up behind me. 3 Super mean looking guys jump out. _

_ (18:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: 3000% sure I was gonna die.  _

_ (18:18) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Then they like took my bike and were putting it in their car and I was like GWAAA NOOOOO!!!!!!!  _

_ (18:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: But then they gave me a ride to school, still took my bike but when I got out they were sitting there W/ MY BIKE FIXED!!!! Then I made friends w/ them and now I have the number of a dude w/ a tongue ring!!!!!!!!! ( _ _ ≧∀≦ _ _ ) _

__

(18:23) To:: Hinata Shouyou: … … …

(18:23) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Your life seems far more exciting than mine. I’m glad they didn’t steal your bike

 

_ (18:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: NO WAY!!!! I bet ur life is super exciting!!! Ur probably super cool w/ a bunch of friends! _

__

(18:29) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Not really, I have two. And one gets on my nerves a lot.

 

 _ (18:29) From:: Hinata Shouyou: No WAY!!!!!!  _ _ ༼ _ _ ⁰ _ _ o _ _ ⁰ _ _ ； _ _ ༽ _

_ (18: _ _ 30) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Well now U have 3!!! ( _ _ ☆▽☆ _ _ ) _

 

(18:33) To:: Hinata Shouyou: We’ve known each other less than three hours.

(18:34) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Can that qualify as a friendship?

 

_ (18:34) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ur right, less than 3 hrs is too soon… _

_ (18:35) From:: Hinata Shouyou: BUT 3 hrs is perfect!!!!!  _ _ ヽ _ _ ( _ _ ＾ _ _ Д _ _ ＾ _ _ ) _ _ ﾉ _

_ (18:35) From:: Hinata Shouyou: SoOooOOO?????? Friends???? _

 

Kenma couldn’t help the small smile pulling at his lips, he knew what he should do. He should say no and stop texting this stranger who apparently befriends anyone. But he didn’t want to. It was both annoying and fun hearing his phone go off every few minutes. It was a kind of attention he could handle. A conversation where he wasn’t forced to answer immediately. He knew what he should do, but for once in his life he decided fuck it.

 

(18:38) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Friends.

 

 _ (18:39) From:: Hinata Shouyou: YAAAYYY!!!!!!  _ _ ☆ _ _ *:. o( _ _ ≧ _ _ ▽ _ _ ≦ _ _ )o .:* _ _ ☆ _

_ (18:40) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I have to go study (- _ _ 公 _ _ \- ;) TTYL Kenma!!! _

 

Kenma left the conversation at that and sat down to restart his video game. He didn’t even know that he’d let the console go to sleep. Kenma spent the rest of his night playing his game, trying to finish it once and for all. At times, he glanced at his phone half expecting it to go off. He felt a little ridiculous and shook it off, focusing on the boss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (08:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Well U know I kinda thought that if we r gonna be friends then we shoulf know sstuff about eachother right???? So Like I thought maybe ill ask Kenma questions and that way we know eachother and stuff, but like it might be too much and I dont like wanna scare U or anything so umm…. Ya srry if Im freaking u out. Im not trying to I swear!!!!!! (⊃д⊂)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! If you click on the attached Image links it will take you to a real image! Thanks for reading!

_ (02:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Do U think birds know how cool their lives are??? _

__

(02:35) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I don’t know. I never really thought about it.

 

_ (02:36) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OK but… Like they can fly and go anywhere _

_ (02:36) From:: Hinata Shouyou: They can see everything!!! Always way up high.  _

_ (02:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I just rlly like birds I guess _

_ (02:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Srry!!!!! U were probably trying to sleep!!! I’ll leave U alone. _

__

(02:40) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I never really thought about it. I guess they are pretty cool.

(02:41) To:: Hinata Shouyou: It’s okay. I was up trying to finish one of my games. I’m normally up pretty late.

 

_ (02:41) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Me TO!!! _

_ (02:42) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Right U play games!!! What kind??? _

_ (02:42) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Do U do like youtube videos or anything?!!!? That would be soooo cool!!! _

__

(03:15) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sorry, I got distracted.

(03:15) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I like story based games, like Life is Strange, but I also like horror games. I was playing Outlast. No I don’t do youtube videos. I don’t really like talking much...

__

_ (03:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Its OK! Did U win??? _

_ (03:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait Rlly??? U talk to me. I like talking to U! Ur Cool!!! _

__

(03:19) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m not really. But thanks. And Umm yeah I did win. Thanks.

(03:19) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Umm shouldn’t you go to bed? It’s kind of late.

 

 _(03:22) From:: Hinata Shouyou: GAAAHHH Ur right!!!_ _（_ _>_ _﹏_ _<_ _）_

_ (03:22) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I don’t wanna tho!!! _

_ (03:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: BUT I WILL.  _

_ (03:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ill txt U tmmro Kenma!!!! _

_ (03:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Or I guess today… Anyway! NIGHT!!! (^-^*)/ _

__

(03:25) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Night

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

_ (08:35) From:: Hinata Shouyou: ITS TOO EARLY!!!! ( _ _ ⋟ _ _ ﹏ _ _ ⋞) _

_ (08:35) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I hate morning classes!!!! Why did I sign up for these!???! _

_ (08:36) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Hey Kenma, whats ur fav color?? _

__

(08:40) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Probably because you need the credits.

(08:40) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I don’t really know… I like blue I guess.

 

_ (08:42) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U don’t know Ur fav color?  _

_ (08:42) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I like red, and yellow, and I like green too! _

_ (08:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Do U have any siblings? Whats Ur fav food? _

_ (08:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait srry, am I asking too many questions again? (^^;) _

__

(08:45) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I never really thought about it, No, apple pie and maybe? Is there a reason you are asking so many?

 

_ (08:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Well U know I kinda thought that if we r gonna be friends then we shoulf know sstuff about eachother right???? So Like I thought maybe ill ask Kenma questions and that way we know eachother and stuff, but like it might be too much and I dont like wanna scare U or anything so umm…. Ya srry if Im freaking u out. Im not trying to I swear!!!!!! ( _ _ ⊃ _ _ д _ _ ⊂ _ _ ) _

_ (09:15) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I freaked U out right? Rlly Rlly srry!!!!! I can stop txting U if U want! _

__

(09:17) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Shoulf. lol

(09:20) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sorry, I had to meet my friend at the station to take the train. It was really crowded so I couldn’t use my phone much.

(09:20) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You’re not freaking me out. Can I ask you the same questions?

 

 _(09:21) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OH!!! Im rlly glad!! Ur the only person that doesn’t tell me to shut up or to stop txting them._ _(^_ _▽_ _^;)_

_ (09:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I have a younger sister Natsu, and my fav food is Tamago Kake Gohan!!  _

_ (09:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: What else do u like? I know video games but what else? Did U ever play sports? _

__

(09:25) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I used to play volleyball but I don’t anymore.

 

_ (09:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: NO WAY!!!!!!!! _

_ (09:26) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I PLAY VOLLEYBALL!!! Its my fav sport ever! I knew U were super cool! What position were U? _

_ (09:27) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m a Middle Blocker.  _

_ (09:27) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Damn! Gotta go to class!!! TTYL Kenma!!!! _

 

Kenma, hit the power button on the side of his phone to lock it as he tucked his head down, his hair covering his face. Kuroo lead them through the crowd as they made their way to Kuroo’s work where Kenma would sit for a while and do his own work. It was a deal he and his best friend had, that he goes and sits down in the pet store so Kenma has some social interaction that day and after two hours he can leave.

It was a deal that never worked out before, when Kuroo was working at the coffee shop it was always too crowded and too noisy. He couldn’t do anything. But here, at the pet shop, where he could sit on a small bench beside the ferrets and do his work. Web designing was turning out to be a career that was working for him, he’s almost glad he took Kuroo’s advice. He would never actually tell Kuroo that though.

“Kenma! Hello~!” The black-haired man waved a slightly tanned hand in front of Kenma’s face. Kenma blinked and looked up at him with a questioning look.

“You aren’t even paying attention, are you? Come on man, I was asking about that mystery texter you had yesterday? Did you hear anything else from them?” He asked, stretching his arms above his head, as his back curved, it reminded Kenma of a cat. Since they were out of dense traffic the smaller let go of his friend’s jacket and shrugged looking up to meet his eyes.

“Yeah… they texted more. We actually talked for a little bit too.” Kenma said watching his friend’s reactions go from shock, to disbelief, to teasing.

“Oh did you? Well do tell Kenma, who is our mystery texter?” Kuroo had a smug smirk on his face and Kenma pursed his lips in response to it. He gave his friend another shrug and fixed his bookbag on his shoulders.

“I’ll tell you when they text me after they get out of class.” He said nonchalantly as he walked ahead of Kuroo, only a few steps he got anxious if he was too far away from him. The taller man looked at the back of his friend’s head in disbelief.

“Hold up! Kenma? You made a friend with some kid that text you by accident? Oh, my god that’s amazing! Wait ‘till I tell Bo.” He said as he pulled his phone from his pocket and started typing out the message. Kenma tried to control the blush that was rise on his cheeks, he hated being the center of attention. He didn’t like any attention; he should probably re-dye his hair for that matter. It seemed like his roots got more attention than the blond ever did.

“Kenma come on, you’re gonna make me late again!” Kuroo joked as he gently grabbed Kenma’s sleeve and led him down the street to the small pet shop.

 

 _(10:57) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I hate when the prof keeps us late!_ _（￣ー￣；_

_ (10:58) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I have other things to do ya know!?!? not right now… But I didn’t wanna spend xtra time in a English Lit class!!!  _

_ (10:59) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Y should I care what some old british guy said?!?!?! Also y is the language so confusing?!!!?? Like what r they doing?!! _

_ (11:00) From:: Hinata Shouyou: At least now I can relax till my next class. It’s at noon. ^^. What r U up to????? _

__

(11:03) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sorry, English can be really hard. Right now I am sitting beside a cage of ferrets trying to make a website for a bakery that keeps changing their mind.

__

_(11:03) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ferrets? Make a website???? What does that mean??????_ _ヽ_ _(_ _゜～゜_ _o)_ _ノ_

_ (11:04) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Is that a code??? _

__

(11:06) To:: Hinata Shouyou: No? I am literally sitting beside a ferret cage and working on a website.

(11:06) To:: Hinata Shouyou: [attached Image](https://goo.gl/images/jiUaFn)

(11:07) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m a web designer and my friend drags me places so I’m at a pet store right now. He thinks I need more social interaction.

 

_ (11:08) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OMG THEY ARE SO CUTE!!!!!!!!  _

_ (11:08) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ur a web designer?!! That’s soooo COOL!!!!! WOW, that must be a awesome job! Is that what U went to school for???  _

_ (11:09) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait…. Y a pet store???? _

__

(11:12) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Its okay, I can do my work from home so I don’t really have to face people a lot which is nice. I went to school for software engineering with a minor in graphic design and web design so I guess so?

(11:12) To:: Hinata Shouyou: He works at a pet store while he studies for his Master’s degree, he brings me to work with him.

 

_ (11:13) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Whoa! Kenma Ur so smart!! U probably make the coolest websites too! _

_(11:13) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im here on a volleyball scholarship but they said I needed a major so Im doing sports science… Its rlly hard!!_ _(_ _⋟_ _﹏_ _⋞_ _)_

_ (11:14) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Whats Ur friends major??? Is he super smart too?? _

__

(11:20) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I rarely have complaints about them so I guess they are okay. Oh… Kuroo is majoring in clinical biochemistry and minoring in theoretical physics.

(11:20) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m not sure why he’s doing the physics one… I think it just interested him at the time.

 

_ (11:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait… _

_ (11:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: What???? _

_ (11:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: HOW?!?!?!? _

_ (11:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ur both so smart!!!!!!! _

_ (11:21) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OMG I feel kinda dumb. Lol. Like…….. WhAT???? THAT IS SO COOL!!!!  _

_ (11:21) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U Guys are SO COOL!!! _

__

(11:23) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Thanks? Sports science seems like it would be interesting.

 

_ (11:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: NP!!!!!!! (* _ _ ＞ｖ＜ _ _ ) _

_ (11:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Nah… its super boring sometimes. _

_ (11:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OH Ur at a pet shop! Whats Ur fav animal? ?!!! _

_ (11:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I rlly like birds, and dogs, and cats, AND HEDGEHOGS!!!!! They r sooooo cute!!! _

__

(11:26) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I like cats and ferrets, they are like smaller less troublesome cats. Hedgehogs are pretty cool too I guess…

 

_ (11:26) From:: Hinata Shouyou: My one friend has a hedgehog, she loves it soo much! _

_ (11:26) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OH DID U KNOW THEY FLOAT!!??!?! _

__

(11:42) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sorry. Kuroo got into an argument with a customer and dragged me into it.

(11:42) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I didn’t know that, that’s pretty cool.

 

_ (11:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Its OK!! Y did he drag U in it???  _

_ (11:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Y is he arguing w/ customers???  _

_ (11:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: WHAT KIND OF CRAZY PET STORE IS THIS?!???!!!!! _

__

(11:52) To: Hinata Shouyou: Lol. It’s a normal pet store. It was one of his friends that came in to buy a fish.

(11:53) To:: Hinata Shouyou: They started arguing over whether or not fish get cold at the bottom of the ocean and it went downhill really fast so I had to google it to put them at peace.

 

_ (11:53) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OH!..... _

_(11:53) From: Hinata Shouyou: … Do fish get cold at the bottom of the ocean?_   _(_ _ﾟｰﾟ_ _;_

__

(11:55) To: Hinata Shouyou: No, Shouyou. They are fine. They were built to withstand the pressure and temperature at the bottom of the ocean so they don’t get cold.

 

_ (11:55) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Oh cool… _

_ (11:55) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Hey U called me Shouyou! ( _ _ ≧ _ _ ▽≦ _ _ ) _

__

(11:57) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You call me Kenma?

 

_ (11:57) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ya but.. this is the 1st time u used my name!!!! Its just nice is all! _ _ （＾ω＾） _

_ (11:57) From:: Hinata Shouyou: GAHHH I gotta go to class!! TTYL Kenma!! _

__

(11:59) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Later. Have fun in class.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oyoa? What has you smiling like that?” Kuroo asked walking over to him with a sly smirk. Kenma knew his friend was never without some sort of smirk but this was his least favorite of any of them. It normally meant he was planning something.

Kenma was nearly done the webpage and Kuroo’s shift was nearly over so he’d be able to go home soon. He couldn’t wait to be home so he could change into his baggy sweatpants. They were old and they were ratty and one leg had a cigarette burn in them from when Kenma was sitting on his balcony while a drunk Kuroo smoked, he dropped the cigarette when he turned to look at Kenma and it landed right on the leg of his pants. He still couldn’t find it in himself to throw them away. At this point they had a certain sentimental value that Kenma didn’t want to lose.

Kenma felt his phone go off beside him as he packed his computer away. He couldn’t help the small almost inexistent smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t understand Hinata Shouyou. He texted Kenma on accident and proceeded to continue texting him ever since. He was so friendly and welcoming; he was a weird kid that probably tried to befriend everyone he came across. While Kenma was the weird kid that actively avoided most forms of social interaction because he got too nervous around people and would often freeze up or not know what to say. Shouyou was a ball of energy and positivity while Kenma was a ball of crippling social anxiety and pessimism.

They didn’t mix at all, and yet Kenma didn’t mind. He didn’t mind at all; he was even starting to like the energetic way that Shouyou texted.

“Oyoa? What has you smiling like that?” Kuroo asked walking over to him with a sly smirk. Kenma knew his friend was never without some sort of smirk but this was his least favorite of any of them. It normally meant he was planning something.

“Nothing, just looking forward to going home.” He lied smoothly, it wasn’t really a lie, but they both knew it wasn’t the whole truth either.

“Yeah? Not because your new friend texted you?” Kenma cringed as Kuroo said this and pointed down at his phone on the bench where the notification light was blinking blue. Kenma looked down, hiding his face in his hair as he grabbed his phone.

“You’ve known this kid what a day? He already has you smiling, it took me weeks to get you to smile at me! Let me see, I gotta know this kid’s trick.” Kuroo reached for Kenma’s phone, the faux blond quickly shoved it in his hoodie pocked and looked up at Kuroo.

“No. You’re not going to torment Shouyou, er…. Hinata, like you do everyone else.” Kenma realized his mistake as soon as he said it, his eyes grew wide, the gold in them shining bright against the fluorescent bulbs in the store.

“Shouyou? Oh my god Kenma… this is a wonder among wonders. You made a friend! Bo is gonna love this.” Kuroo hummed as he started back to the breakroom so he could grab his thing and clock out.

“Wait, wait! Do you have to tell Boukuto? He’s going to tell everyone he knows.”

“Don’t worry about it Kenma, I’ll tell him to keep it hush hush. And I do have to tell him. He’s my bro, you don’t leave a bro out Ken, you just don’t.”

Kenma let out a sigh. He knew the peacefulness of the situation would be short lived with friends like his, but he never realized it would be this short. He sighed, well, no fighting it now, he was going to end up being the center of attention and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

 

 _ (16:49) From:: Hinata Shouyou: KENMAAAA WHY ARE ALL OF MY PROFS KEEPING ME LATE!?!?!?!  _ _ （ _ _ > _ _ ﹏ _ _ < _ _ ） _

_ (16:49) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Wat did I do to deserved this??? I’m a good person Kenma!!!! _

_ (16:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I might be late for practice now!!!! _

_ (15:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Tell them they gotta stop!  _

__

(16:53) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You want me to tell your professors to stop keeping you late… I don’t think that would work.

(16:53) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Why are you texting me if you’re going to be late? Go to practice.

 

_ (16:54) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I am I am!!!! Im changing now! _

_ (16:54) From:: Hinata Shouyou: And cause I like txting U.  _

_ (16:55) From:: Hinata Shouyou: GONNA BE LATE!!!!! TTYL kenMA. Txt u after practice.  _

 

(16:58) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Okay. Have fun.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_(19:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: THNX Kenma!!! It was a fun practice._

_(19:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I got to practice my spikes._

_(19:18) From:: Hinata Shouyou: But cause I was late I had to do laps._

_(19:18) From:: Hinata Shouyou: And I yelled at Kageyama For giving me the wrong #. He Just shrug at me and Walk away!!111!!_

_(19:19) From:: Hinata Shouyou: ROODE_

_(19:19) From:: Hinata Shouyou: He’s our setter btw_

_(19:19) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U neer told me what position U were???_

_(19:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OMG Im like bliowing up Ur phone!!! Srry!!!! I got ober excvited._

(19:24) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You’re grammar is even worse when you’re worked up lol.

(19:24) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait.

(19:26) To:: Hinata Shouyou: That’s not what I meant. I think its funny. But not like a make fun of you kind of funny more of a haha this looks like a funny word funny. And I don’t mind you blowing up my phone, so it’s okay. I didn’t mean to offend you.

 

_ (19:26) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Offend me??????  _

_ (19:27) From:: Hinata Shouyou: No way!!!  _

_ (19:27) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U just said u didnt mind me blowing up Ur phone. NO WAY IM OFFENDED. _

_ (19:30) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Thats Y lots of people dont txt me. They get annoyed cause when I get hyper or nervious I ramble so I blow uptheir phone and then they get mad. So I try not to do it but I forget sometimes. _

_ (19:30) From:: Hinata Shouyou: And Im doing it again…  _ _ ヽ _ _ (´Д`;) _ _ ﾉ _

__

(19:32) To:: Hinata Shouyou: It’s okay, I kind of like the distraction.

 

_ (19:33) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Distraction?  _

_ (19:33) From:: Hinata Shouyou: What do you mean? Is that a good or a bad thing???? _

__

(19:36) To:: Hinata Shouyou: It’s a good thing. I don’t really know how to explain it.

(19:37) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sometimes I get really wrapped up in my thoughts and get stuck there? So I have a hard time doing anything because I can’t stop thinking. So the ping my phone makes when you text me kind of helps to pull me out of my own head and umm focus on something else.

         

Kenma blinked at his phone screen. He just sent that. Shit. Shouyou didn’t know he had anxiety, he didn’t need to know so why the hell did Kenma send him a text trying to explain part of it. Now Shouyou is going to think he’s crazy and not want to talk to him anymore, but why should that even matter it’s not like the two of them are that close. Still Kuroo was right, it was amazing that Kenma was able to make a friend with someone in such little time. He’d never had many friends to begin with and now he went and messed this one up too.

 

_ (19:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Sorry! I burnt my Ramen and… may have started a small fire. But its good now!!! _

_ (19:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Anyway, Im glad I can be a good distraction!!!  _

_ (19:44) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Getting stuck in Ur own thoughts is probably rlly stressful. So im glad I can help!!! (* _ _ ≧ _ _ ▽≦ _ _ ) _

__

(19:45) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Yeah, it can be. So… thanks…

(19:45) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait what do you mean you started a small fire?

 

_ (19:46) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ah…. See funny story.  _

_ (19:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: So I turned my stove on to make some instant ramen because… WElll honestly just because I havent been shopping in a while and it was all I had. So my stove is one, noodles in the pan, and I put my towel down to go turn on the tv. _

_ (19:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I put it down on the stove. ( _ _ ￣ー￣； _

_ (19:49) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Nxt thing I know there is smoke and the fire alarm goes off so I go back in and the freaking towel is on fire!!! SO with my qick thinking I put it out. But I checked on my noodles I remembered I din’t put water in the pan and they were all burnt. _

_(19:49) From:: Hinata Shouyou: So since I had to meet my friend at 20:00 for her to tutor me in English I decided to go out for dinner._ _(^_ _▽_ _^;)_

__

(19:51) To:: Hinata Shouyou: … Shouyou… how do you even do that? How do you forget water? Are you okay?

(19:51) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You make me want to figure out a way to text an exasperated sigh.

 

_ (19:52) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Lol ur funny Kenma _

_ (19:52) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im fine. My apartment kinda smells like smoke tho so I had to leave the window open…. Hopefully another bird doesnt fly in. _

_ (19:53) From:: Hinata Shouyou: They r rlly hard to get out.  _

__

(19:54) To:: Hinata Shouyou: How many times have you done this exactly? Because it sounds like its been more than once.

 

_ (19:54) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Oh… well,…. See thigns happen and ummm…. _

_ (19:55) From:: Hinata Shouyou: AHH I see Yachi sO I gotta go!! _

__

(19:57) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Talk to you later… And please try not to catch anything else on fire today…

 

( _19:57) From:: Hinata Shouyou: LOL ill do my best!!!!! |_ _｀･ω･_ _)9_


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (21:32) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Kuroo just used his spare key to break into my apartment to raid my fridge. And then passed out on my couch… He ate 4 bowls of leftovers…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit short but I promise the next chapter will be nice and long it just may take a bit more time to write. Hope you guys are liking the story!

(21:32) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Kuroo just used his spare key to break into my apartment to raid my fridge. And then passed out on my couch… He ate 4 bowls of leftovers…

 

_ (22:15) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Kenma!!! U txt me first!!! ( _ _ ＾ _ _ ▽ _ _ ＾ _ _ ) _

_(22:15) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Yachi is super tough with tutoring and took my phone!!_ _(_ _つ_ _﹏_ _<_ _。_ _)_

_ (22:16) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Kuroo, that’s the friend that takes u to work with him right? U must be rlly close! _

__

(22:18) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I wanted someone else to know that Kuroo and his friends often come to my apartment to steal my food. Mainly because they are too lazy to cook.

(22:18) To:: Hinata Shouyou: We’ve known each other since we were kids. He’s probably my closest friend.

 

_ (22:19) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Whoa! Childhood friend! That’s so cool!!! _

_ (22:19) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I had a lot of friends as a kid but we all went to different high schools or colleges.  _

_ (22:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: But we still text and sometimes get together to have drinks.  _

_ (22:20) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Some even come to my games!!!  _

__

(22:23) To:: Hinata Shouyou: That's pretty cool. I’m sure it's nice to have them there cheering you on.

__

_ (22:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: It`s great!!!  _

_(22:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: We have a game in three days and Im rlly excited. I can’t wait to play!!_ _ヽ_ _(_ _＾Д＾_ _)_ _ﾉ_

_ (22:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im still a little upset Yachi took my phone!!! _

_ (22:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I wanted to txt U to show U how good my english was! _

__

(22:27) To:: Hinata Shouyou: That was probably for the best, she probably  didn’t want you getting distracted.

__

_ (22:27) From:: Hinata Shouyou: AH probly. I get distracted easy. When I was younger they said I had ADHD _

_ (22:28) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I still have it but they took me off the meds. I have trouble paying attention a lot. _

_ (22:28) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Srry U didnt need to know that. I forget people dont rlly want to hear about stuff like that. ( _ _ ﾟ _ _ A _ _ ﾟ _ _ ;) _

__

(22:32) To:: Hinata Shouyou: It's okay.

(22:32) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I don’t really understand the stigma, but you don’t have to worry about it.

         

If there was any word that could describe Kenma it would be hypocrite. He had slowly come to accept this over time after he’d heard it enough from the people around him.

__

_ (22:33) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ahh Ur so cool Kenma! _

_ (22:33) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ur always so nice and U dont think the things I say r super weird.  _

__

(22:36) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m really not that cool. I kinda spend most of my time inside. And I’m not saying anything particularly nice either, just stating my opinion.

 

_ (22:36) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ya but ur rlly open minded and its nice cause I dunno… I feel comfortable talking to U _

_ (22:36) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait… U spend ur time inside?? _

_ (22:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Dont u get bored?  _

_ (22:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I would be so bored if I spent my time inside! I like going on walks and runs and like playing volleyball. I even like just like sitting ouside. _

 

(22:42) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I feel comfortable talking to you too Shouyou. I guess more accurately I don’t like being outside alone, and I’m often alone so I don’t go outside much.

__

_ (22:42) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Dont U get lonely?  _

 

“Holy shit.” Kuroo mumbled from Kenma’s couch as he slowly sat up and looked at his friend sitting in the small arm chair to the side of the room. Kenma looked over and watched the black-haired man sit up and stretch. Kenma would always be reminded of a cat when Kuroo stretched. More than likely because the man had a very cat-like personality, mischievous, a bit of an asshole, but in all a good companion.

 

(22:44) To: Hinata Shouyou: Sometimes I guess. I don’t like being around a lot of people so I don’t mind being alone.

 

“I was wondering when you would wake up.” The smaller mumbled looking down at his phone waiting for a reply from Shouyou. Kuroo shot him a look and looked at the coffee table where the four empty Tupperware containers still sat. He let out a soft groan and fell face first onto the couch once again.

“Why do you let me do this?” He asked, voice muffled by the pillows that hid his face.

“I was in the shower when you broke in here. This was all you.” Kenma said quietly with a small smirk pulling at his lips.

“Wait, what time is it?” Kuroo asked, shooting up incredibly fast.

“22:46” Kenma mumbled still glancing down at his phone noticing that he’d missed the notification from Shouyou.

 

_ (22:45) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Thats okay! U dont have to be lonely anymore! Im here to text U all the time now!!  _ _ ୧ _ _ ( _ _ ๑ _ _ ❛ _ _ ั _ _ ⌔ _ _ ❛ _ _ ั๑ _ _ ) _ _ ୨ _

__

(22:47) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Thanks. That sounds cool.

 

“Ah, man. I have to go meet Bo for drinks. Wait… Are you still texting that guy? Kenma you don’t even know how old this guy is. He could be some creeper that’s stalking you.” Kuroo said as he slowly stood and looked around for his things.

“He’s not, he’s a college student that plays on the volley ball team.”

“Yeah and how do you know that? Did he tell you?” Kuroo asked picking up his phone and jacket.

“Yeah… He also said they have a game in three days. He’s nice… I like talking to him.” Kenma said ducking his chin to his chest so he could hide half of his face in his sweatshirt.

“Maybe we should go. They might announce the player’s names and we could get a look at this mystery guy.” Kuroo suggested jokingly.

Kenma glanced up at him for a short moment before shrugging and offering a small “Maybe” that was hidden in his sweatshirt. Kuroo stopped, one arm in his jacket the other fallen to his side when he heard Kenma. He almost didn’t believe his ears.

“Hold on… seriously? Kenma. Are you actually considering going to this game just to see this kid? Just stalk him on Facebook." The man said starting to put the rest of his jacket on. Kenma shook his head.

“I don’t want to stalk him on Facebook; that’s rude and if he wanted me to know what he looked like he would tell me. I don’t want to snoop on him.” He said looking down at his phone and opening the message app again.

 

_ (22:48) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Anytime Kenma!!!  _

_ (22:48) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im gonna go to bed. Ill txt u later Kenma, sleep tight!! _

 

(22:52) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Good night, sleep well Shouyou.

 

“Alright well I’m out of here, just be careful alright. Oh, there is a new client that’s going to call tomorrow. I’ll try to be here before they do so I can take the call for you but you know how Bo and I can be when we start drinking. If I’m not here, you can either answer or your voicemail is set up to give your email address and telling them to contact you that way.” Kuroo said as he slipped on his shoes. Kuroo was the one that normally handled the customers for him. He would answer his work phone and even go to face to face meetings with him. The thought of Kuroo not being here to handle the call made Kenma a bit nervous but he simply nodded and watched as Kuroo opened to door to leave.

“I’ll see you later, and actually get some sleep tonight okay. You always get way to anxious when you stay up to late.” Kuroo managed to sound like a caring father while also looking like the guy you didn’t want to take home to meet your parents.

“I will. Have fun.” Kenma said starting to fidget with his phone already missing the buzzing from Shouyou’s texts. Kuroo nodded and paused at the door before calling a “Later” to Kenma before closing and locking the door behind him.

Kenma let out a soft sigh and walked over to his TV turning on his Xbox360. He started up a game one of his clients gave him to test before deciding on a theme for his website and gathered up a few snacks and a cup of tea before sitting down and watching the title sequence. He should get this done in no time. He selected his character, a tall blonde woman wearing cargo shorts and a black t-shirt and settled into his seat on his couch. He glanced at the clock 23:15. He’d go to bed at midnight and have plenty of sleep. He had this under control. He told himself as he started navigating his character through a dimly lit house.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (06:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: We r gonna win today. Im gonna hit a spike for U!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Game day!!! There are mentions of panic attacks in this chapter, just to give you guys a heads up! Hope you like it!

FF three days.

 

_ (06:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: KENMA!!!! Its game day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  _ _ ۹ _ _ (Ò _ _ ہ _ _ Ó) _ _ ۶ _

_ (06:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im so excited!! _

_ (06:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: We r gonna win today. Im gonna hit a spike for U! _

__

(07:18) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You’re going to hit a spike for me?

(07:18) To:: Hinata Shouyou: What time is your game?

 -

_ (07:19) From:: Hinata Shouyou: It starts at 10 it’s a home game so its at the uni. _

_ (07:19) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Duh im gonna hit a spike for U. Ur like my best friend!!! _

 -

(07:24) To:: Hinata Shouyou: But you don’t really know much about me. Just my favorite color and my favorite food.

 -

_ (07:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: FALSE!!!!! (○ _ _ ｀･Д･´ _ _ )9 _

_ (07:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I know what you majored in, I know what u do for a job, I know u get stuck in ur own head, and u get nervious around lots of people,  I know u used to play volleyball, you still didnt tell me what position. _

_ (07:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I know U have a childhood friend named Kuroo who likes to eat ur leftovers. I know Ur up late a lot. And I know u like playing video games.  _

_ (07:26) From:: And I know that since I started txting U u always answered every one no matter how annoying I get. U didnt think I was weird when I said I had ADHD and I dont know…I just like u.   _

__

Kenma blinked at his phone. He couldn’t think of anything else to do but stare at the screen. He didn’t realize that his mouth had falling open to form a small ‘O’. He stopped pouring his coffee and put the pot back.  Finally, he blinked again and put his coffee cup down so he could properly respond.

 -

(07:30) To:: Hinata Shouyou:… I like you too.

(07:30) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I was a setter.

 -

_ (07:30) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ahhh!!!! So Cool!!! Maybe u can set for me one day!! _

_ (07:31) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I have to get to the campus! Ill txt u after the game.  _

 -

(07:32) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Good luck.

 -

Kenma went to his contacts and hit his favorites before tapping the number one contact. He held the phone to his ear, listening to the rings while waiting for his friend to answer.

“Kenma, are you okay? What happened? Are you panicking?” This was the answer that Kenma was faced with as soon as his friend answered the phone. Kenma was quiet for a short time not sure what to say.

“Kenma? Ken?” Kuroo said a little more worry in his voice. “Do you need me to come over, I’ll head over right now.” Kuroo said, Kenma could hear the rustle of sheets as Kuroo got out of bed.

“I-I want…” Kenma frowned and looked down at his feet, taking a deep breath. “I want to go to the volleyball game.”

“Wait… seriously? The college volleyball game your text buddy is in?” Kenma could hear the disbelief in Kuroo’s voice. He let out a soft puff of air trying to keep his breathing regular.

“Yes. Can you come? It’s at ten.” Kenma said tapping his fingers on his kitchen counter next to his half-filled coffee mug. He tapped to a soft rhythm of one. two-three. One. two-three.

“Yeah I can come. But it’s going to be pretty crowded. Are you sure you want to go?” Kuroo asked. Kenma knew that Kuroo was just trying to look after him, to try and make sure he was alright. But this was the first time in a while that Kenma had asked to go anywhere social. He thought Kuroo would have been happy about it.

“Yes Kuroo. Please.”

“Well… alright then, I’ll be by around 08:45 to pick you up so we can beat the crowd going into the gym.” Kuroo said relenting, knowing that this had to be something special for Kenma to volunteer to go to a crowded gym on a Saturday when he could very well be sleeping in.

“Thank you.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kenma gripped Kuroo’s shirt as they made their way around the campus. For a Saturday, it was busy, students crowding the sidewalks as Kuroo and Kenma tried to get to the gym. Kenma looked around as Kuroo led the way, he silently wondered to himself how he ever made it through three and a half years here. Thank god for online and summer classes and of course early graduation.

“Kenma, we’re almost there are you oaky?” The taller man’s voice was soft, probably because he felt his younger friend’s grip tighten on the back of his shirt when a group of students almost walked into them.

“Fine. Let’s just get to the gym. It will be better inside.” The blond said, seeing that the gym was close.

The two made their way into the gym walking up to a high set of bleachers that were often left empty. Two teams were doing warm up stretches on the sides of the court. Kenma looked over the two of them with a small frown before gently pulling at Kuroo’s sleeve.

“Which one is our team?” He asked softly, leaning closer to his friend as he eyed the team in blue with white accents. He heard Kuroo laugh softly before pointing to the opposite team. Kenma looked over and eyed the team wearing purple and yellow. The blond scrunched his nose up.

“Our colors suck." He mumbled looking over the players. They all looked like pretty typical volleyball players, meaning to say, they were tall. All except one. A boy with unruly orange hair looked so small standing amongst the team. Once Kenma saw the short player his eyes widened a little. The first thought that came to mind when he saw him was, ‘bright’, the next was that he seemed way too hyper for just pregame warm ups. Kenma could feel Kuroo’s gaze on him before it followed Kenma’s gaze to the short player.

“Oh, he’s cute. Maybe you could get his number after the game.” Kenma shot his friend a glare.

“Yeah, that’s not a horrible idea or anything.” He said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes looking back at the smallest team member. He looked back just in time to catch the ginger smiling. Kenma forgot how to think for a second, his smile was bright and cheerful, inviting and friendly, it was warm and almost contagious. It reminded Kenma of sunshine.

The faux blond quickly looked away when the team took the court to warm up. He took his phone from his pocket and opened his message app. He started reading over the old messages from Shouyou waiting for the game to officially start. He wasn’t paying attention to the court. That was his first mistake because in the matter of a minute he heard a loud thump, a “holy shit” from Kuroo, and a chorus of “Hinata Nice Kill”.

Kenma’s head shot up looking back to the court where he saw the ginger being pat on the back by his teammates. Kenma watched the court carefully, much to his dismay it was Kuroo that caught on first.

“Well… Looks like you won’t have to get his number after all.” The older said with a Cheshire grin. Kenma remained quiet, ignoring his friend. He watched the game, paying more attention to it than he did with some of his own games in high school. When the game was over he and Kuroo left to try, and beat the crowd out of the gym.

“You should at least go say hi to your chibi-chan.” Kuroo said as they walked away from the gym, Kenma holding onto his shirt once again. Kenma shook his head. He did text Shouyou congratulations but with the game over and everyone moving and talking Kenma was more than a little anxious.

“I’ll text him. It’s okay, let’s just get out of here.” Kenma said glancing back at the gym as they walked toward the train station.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(11:13) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Congratulations.

 -

_ (11:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U CAME?!!?!!?! _

_ (11:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: WHERE  WERE U????  _

_ (11:38) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I didnt get to see u!!!  _ _ つ´Д _ _ `) _ _ つ _

_ (11:38) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Were u in the stands!?  _

_ (11:39) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Which stands???  _

_ (11:39) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Where did u sit? _

__

(11:40) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I was in the top stands with Kuroo. You had some good spikes.

 -

_ (11:40) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U saw me!!! I dont know what u look like! No fair! _ _ （ _ _ > _ _ ﹏ _ _ < _ _ ） _

_ (11:40) From:: Hinata Shouyou: How did u know which one was me!!?? _

 -

(11:43) To:: Hinata Shouyou: They called out your name and I put two and two together. I like your hair by the way.

 -

_ (11:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I want to see u too!!!! _

_ (11:44) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Why didn’t u tell me u were coming??? _

__

(12:05) To:: Hinata Shouyou: [Image Attached](http://scontent.cdninstagram.com/t51.2885-15/s480x480/e35/c203.0.674.674/13534327_1631631113832046_1936942825_n.jpg?ig_cache_key=MTI4NDk1Mzc1MTA5ODg1NTM2Ng%3D%3D.2.c) there now you’ve seen me.

(12:05) To:: Hinata Shouyou: It was a last minute decision.

_ (12:06) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Whoa…. can i call u pretty? is that ok? _

_(12:06) From:: Hinata Shouyou: cause ur rlly pretty…. not to be weird or anything!_ _(*_ _ﾟｰﾟ_ _)_ _ゞ_

_ (12:07) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I mean. im not like trying to hit on u. _

_ (12:07) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ignor hat txt plz. _

_ (12:56) From:: Hinata Shouyou: ignor all those txt plz…(´ _ _ ～｀ヾ _ _ ) _

__

(13:46) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sorry, I had a meeting with a client that ran over.

(13:46) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Don’t worry about it, your kind of cute too. ;)

(13:47) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Please ignore that. Kuroo took my phone.

 -

_ (13:48) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Lol its OK!  _

_ (13:48) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im glad u made it to my game!  _

_(13:49) From:: Hinata Shouyou: It makes it even better that we won today!_ _б_ _（＞ε＜）_ _∂_

_ (13:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: We are going out later to celebrate u could come if u want! _

_ (13:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Its just the team and a few friends nothing big.  _

__

Kenma looked down at his phone with a frown. How was he supposed to answer that? He’d never actually met Shouyou, he couldn’t just go in there and act like everything was fine especially since he’d never met any of the team either. He would be intruding and it would probably be loud, groups of people like that are always really loud and he doesn’t do well with that.

“Kenma, you look like your head is about to explode what is going on?” Kuroo asked walking out of the kitchen with two cups of tea. Kenma had already put his phone down on the couch next to him as he tried to think of a way to respond without telling Shouyou that he had anxiety because there was no way that was happening. Shouyou would just think he was weird then and he would probably stop texting him. Why was he so worried about that it wasn’t like they had been friends for long but Kenma didn’t want to lose this contact because Shouyou didn’t make him nervous when he text him and—

“Kenma!” The blond blinked and looked over at Kuroo who’d sat down beside him. He hadn’t even noticed that the taller man had sat down. He looked down at Kuroo’s hands and took the mug of tea being offered to him. He slowly took a sip, he hadn’t noticed that his heart had started beating so fast, it hurt in his chest now.

“You looked like you were about to have a panic attack what happened?” Kuroo asked as he sank back in the couch, one of his hands gently resting on Kenma’s knee. Kenma looked up at him for a moment before he looked down at his phone, innocently sitting on the cushion beside him.

“Shouyou invited me out. But I can’t…” Kenma said glaring at the phone like this was in some way all its fault.

“Just tell him you can’t go. He’ll understand.” Kuroo suggested taking a sip of his tea. Kenma shook his head no. He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, all he did was silently reach for his phone, turning it on to reread the message again.

“He’ll ask why. I can’t tell him I have anxiety. He might not want to talk anymore.” Kenma said quietly as he started slowly typing out a message.

“Kenma, think about it for a second, you know that isn’t logical thought progression, right? He won’t stop talking to you because you have anxiety.” Kuroo tried to argue gently, Kenma ignored him and sent to message anyway.

 -

(14:14) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sorry, I can’t. I have to meet with another client and I have a few pages that I need to finish.

 -

Kuroo read the message, using his height to see around Kenma’s slumped stature. He frowned and took another long drink of his tea. Kenma put his phone down on his lap this time and glanced up at his friend before shrinking into the couch and tucking his chin into his chest. He sipped at his tea, trying to ignore the fact that Kuroo very obviously wanted to say something.

“Lying to him won’t help you either. I’m not saying you have to tell him everything but at least don’t lie to the kid.” Before Kenma could respond be felt his phone go off multiple times.

 -

_ (14:15) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Oh!! OK!! Good Luck with Work then! Maybe we can hang out someother time!  _ _ （＾ _ _ ∀ _ _ ＾） _

_ (14:15) From: Hinata Shouyou: Txt me ok?!?! We r just gonna go to dinner and a bar. _

_ (14:16) From:: Hinata Shouyou: So dont think u cant txt me! _

_ (14:16) From:: Hinata Shouyou: It would be boring without txt from u! _

__

(14:17) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’ll text you.

 -

_ (14:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Cool!! _

_ (14:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: If u get done early and want to come just txt me! _

_ (14:18) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Not that u have to. If u dont want to thats ok!! _

_ (14:18) From:: Hinata Shouyou: My team… and me can be pretty loud.  _

__

Kuroo read the texts with Kenma and let out a soft sigh. Kenma seemed to read his mind because with one glance up at his oldest friend the blond frowned and immediately shoved his phone in his hoodie pocket.

“Don’t”

“He likes you, that much is obvious.”

“Don’t”

“Kenma, I’m just saying that he probably won’t care. You know you don’t have to be ashamed about yourself.”

“Kuroo…”

“There’s nothing wrong with you Kenma. Not your anxiety and not your—“

“I’m going to take a nap.” Kenma said quickly standing up with his head down, his hair blocking his face.

“Kenma…” Kuroo tried standing up. The shorter of the two only shook his head and stuck his hand in his sweatshirt pocket, gripping his phone as he slowly made his way back to his room.

“I’m just tired. I’ll talk to you later.” Kenma said chancing a look up at his friend. His normally stoic face didn’t give much away but there was a crease that was starting to show between his eyebrows which meant Kenma was annoyed.

“Alright, get some sleep. I’m going out to get food later so I’ll text you and see if you want to come along. Sleep tight.” Kuroo said with a very small upturn of his mouth, it was a forced smirk, Kenma knew that much but at the moment he really was exhausted.

“Okay.” He said with a nod before watching Kuroo leave his apartment, locking the door behind him. Kenma walked back to his room and climbed into his bed, only remembering to take his phone out of his pocket when he felt it go off again.

 -

_(14:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im so tired!!!_ _（＾。＾；）_

_ (14:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im gonna take a nap, TTYL Kenma!!! _

__

(14:27) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sleep tight. Talk to you later Shouyou.

 -

Kenma laid there scrolling through their messages. He read them slowly, eyes drooping as he did. He didn’t want to let his anxiety rule his life, but he was afraid for it not to rule his life at the same time. He let out a soft sigh, after only a few minutes of Kenma reading over his and Shouyou’s old messages Kenma fell asleep, his phone still in his hand.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “My team? Oh! Yeah they are pretty cool. No one believed that Yamaguchi can out drink all of them so when he did they were all like WHAAA? It was really funny because everyone totally lost that bet, even me! But I don’t wanna talk about them!! This is my first time ever talking to you! This is so awesome! You sound really nice; I like your voice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy all!! It only gets more awkward now, with a lot of intervention from Kuroo and friends.

_ (16:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I forgot how great naps were.  _

_ (16:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I feet great! _

_ (16:25) From:: Hinata Shouyou: feel!!!!  _

_ (16:26) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I think spell chk hates me (  _ _ ￣＾￣ _ _ ) _

_ (16:45) From:: Hinata Shouyou: are u playing a game again??? _

_ (16:45) From:: Hinata Shouyou: HOPE U WIN!!! б _ _ （＞ε＜） _ _ ∂ _

_ (17:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: maybe u took a nap too… _

_ (17:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ill let u sleep! Sleep tight Kenma!!! Hav nice dreams!!  _

__

_ (19:53) From:: Hinata Shouyou: We r going out now! Ill keep u updated!!! Txt me when u wake up! _

_ (20:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Image attached _

_ (20:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: team selfie!!!!! _

_ (21:14) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Image attached _

_ (21:14) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Me w/ food selfie!!!  _

_ (22:35) From:: Hinata Shouyou: three of my teammates r drinks… _

__

(22:37) To:: Hinata Shouyou: What kind of drinks are they?

 -

_ (22:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: KENMA!!!!!!!!! _

_ (22:37) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ur awake!!! I was a little worried u were annoyed w/ me. I did kind of blow up ur phone. _

_ (22:38) From:: Hinata Shouyou: srry about that.  _

_ (22:38) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I ment drunk. Kageyama is a lightweight whtever that means. _

__

(22:42) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I fell asleep with my phone off the charger and it died. It was a little surprising when it turned on and didn’t stop chirping.

(22:42) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I like your selfies.

(22:43) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You have a nice smile.

 -

_ (22:43) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Rlly?? THANX!! _

_ (22:44) From:: Hinata Shouyou: srry again it was probably annoying _

__

(22:46) To:: Hinata Shouyou: It was a little funny. It didn’t stop for a straight minute.

 -

_ (22:46) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I didnt think I txt u that much!!  _

_ (22:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OMG evryone is drinking. (- _ _ 公 _ _ \- ;) _

_ (22:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im gonna b the only sober one here!! _

__

(22:52) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You don’t drink?

 -

_ (22:52) From:: Hinata Shouyou: No I dont like drinking.  _

_ (22:52) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Being drunk feels weird & I dont like it! _

_ (22:53) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Do u drink?  _

__

(23:02) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Not really, I tend to avoid parties and drinking if I can help it.

 -

_ (23:22) From:: Hinata Shouyou: R U een reel??? Prtty pple dnt txt Sho….. _

__

(23:23) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Umm… what?

 -

_ (23:23) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Plz plz plz ignore that!!! Kageyama and Tsukishima took my phone!!!!!! _

_ (23:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: They dont think ur real and they r drunk.  _

_ (23:24) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Most of my team dosnt think ur real cause thet dont believe that someone like u would txt me.  _

__

(23:32) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Someone like me?

 -

_ (23:35) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Yea, ya know… somone cool, and mysterious, and quiet and older thn me would want to txt me. _

_ (23:35) From:: Hinata Shouyou: But they r dumb so who cares!?!?!?!!! _

_ (23:36) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Its kinda cold out! _

__

(23:39) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m really not that cool… and I’m probably not that much older than you. And you know more about me than most of my family so I’d say I’m not really a mystery either.

(23:39) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Why are you outside?

 -

_ (23:40) From:: Hinata Shouyou: But I dont know evrything so some mystery! _

_ (23:40) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Yamaguchi out drank evryone so we r trying to get them all taxis  _

_ (23:42) From:: Hinata Shouyou: It would be easier if Tsukishima would stop hanging on him & stop complaining about not having a boyfriend though.  _

_ (23:42) From:: Hinata Shouyou: its weird seeing him w/ emotions… _

__

(23:45) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Boyfriend? Is your friend gay?

 -

_ (23:45) From:: Hinata Shouyou: What??? Oh umm….. yea…. Most of my friends r…. well like all of them….  _

_ (23:46) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U dont think thats weird do u?? Cause its not!! _

_ (23:46) From:: Hinata Shouyou: its 2016 people should be able to be who they want! And its not right to judge because of 1 thing about them! _

__

(23:49) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I agree.

(23:49) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Most of the people I’m around are gay too… well actually most of them are couples.

 -

_ (23:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Oh… rlly? Srry I didnt mean to be rude… Im used to people judging me and my friends for it. _

_ (23:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Its cool we hang out with similar people it means well be super great friends right???!!! _

__

(23:54) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I wouldn’t do that. It would be very hypocritical for me to judge them. I don’t think I know anyone else like you Shouyou. You’re one of a kind.

 -

_ (23:54) From:: Hinata Shouyou: U r to Kenma!! _

_ (23:55) From:: Hinata Shouyou: We finally go evryone in a taxi. Now I can walk home! And not get questioned evrytime my phone goes off! _

__

(23:57) To:: Hinata Shouyou: You’re walking home? But it’s cold, how far is it?

 -

_ (23:57) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I walk everywhere if I dont hve my bike!  _

_ (23:57) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Its not far… a few blocks maybe.  _

_ (23:58) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Hey Kenma. _

__

(23:59) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Please be careful. Yes, Shouyou?

 -

_ (23:59) From:: Hinata Shouyou: would it be weird if I asked to call u??? that way I have smeone to talk to on my walk, and ull know im safe! _

__

(00:02) To:: Hinata Shouyou: … You can call if you want.

 -

Kenma stared down at his phone. What was he doing? He hated talking on the phone, he never knew what to say and it always felt awkward. But he did want to know that Shouyou was okay, and he was bored, a little lonely. Dinner with Kuroo turned into drinks with Bokuto and Kenma wasn’t willing to deal with that tonight so he opted on not going at all.

His phone started ringing and he quickly flattened his hair and pushed it behind his ear, as if making himself presentable for the phone. He slid his finger across the screen and cleared his throat softly.

“Umm… hello?”

“KENMA!” The blond had to take the phone away from his ear for a second.

“Oh man sorry! That was probably way too loud, right? Ah, I always do that. Sometimes I sort of forget that volume can be a thing and my voice just sort of does whatever it wants so I end up being a lot louder than I mean to be and… anyway sorry!” Kenma let out a soft sigh of relief, maybe this wouldn’t be so hard.

“Its umm... its okay. D-did you have fun with your team?”

“My team? Oh! Yeah they are pretty cool. No one believed that Yamaguchi can out drink all of them so when he did they were all like WHAAA? It was really funny because everyone totally lost that bet, even me! But I don’t wanna talk about them!! This is my first time ever talking to you! This is so awesome! You sound really nice; I like your voice.”

“My voice?”

“Yeah! It sort of sounds like… soft, maybe a little tired, and kind of sweet… maybe a little like you mumble a little. But that’s not a bad thing! It’s kind of cute because well… it works for you! You have a really nice voice I like it!” Kenma smiled softly and looked down at his hand as he started to pick at the blanket he was sitting on.

“Oh… umm thanks. You have a nice voice too…”

“Really? What does my voice sound like?!”

“Sunshine.” Kenma said with no hesitation. He blinked and started blushing a dark pink. He just said that… he said that without thinking and Shouyou was going to think he was crazy.

“I-I mean its umm warm and inviting… You just sound really friendly. I like it…” Kenma tried to correct himself but failed miserable. He let out a soft sigh and brought his free hand up to play with his hair. The line was quiet for what felt like hours but in reality, it was only a few seconds before joy filled laughter flooded Kenma’s hearing. He decided that he loved that sound, he wanted to hear it more; a lot more.

“Really?! That’s so cool! I really like that! Sunshine. That’s the best thing anyone has ever compared me to! Thanks, Kenma You’re so amazing!”

“Oh… umm you’re welcome.”

“Why do you sound surprised? Whenever I say something nice or complement you, you sound surprised. You do the same thing in text too.”

“I guess I don’t know how to respond… I don’t really talk much.”

“Why? Talking is great! It helps you get emotions out and lets you get to know other people and it lets you do all kinds of things!”

“I’m not good with people, so I try to avoid interacting with them.”

“You interact with me! We text every day and you know lots about me, like I know lots about you! And I think you’re really cool, just maybe shy, which is okay! There’s totally nothing wrong with being shy. Some people tell me I’m too friendly and that I probably scare some people away but I didn’t scare you away! So I must have done something right, right?!” Kenma could practically hear the grin Shouyou must have at that moment and he felt a small smile tug at his lips.

“I think it was the emojis.” He joked.

“WHAAA!? Really? Maybe I need to add more! An emoji for every text!” Shouyou sounded so serious, Kenma was almost certain that he was and let out a soft laugh. Kenma didn’t laugh often, but when he did Kuroo said it sounded like the sweetest almost musical laugh he’d ever heard.

“I was joking Shouyou.”

The line was silent again, this time for nearly a minute. Long enough for Kenma to think they had been disconnected.

“Shouyou?” He asked quietly, his brow creasing slightly, just as he was about to pull his phone away from his face to check if they actually had been disconnected he heard a soft sigh and paused.

“You have a really nice laugh.” Shouyou’s voice sounded much more subdued now, less loud and energetic and more serious, like he was lost in thought.

“I… oh… thanks…” Kenma felt his cheeks grow hot again, he stopped playing with his hair and lowered his head, hiding his face behind his hair. It was ridiculous not one knew that he was blushing. He was sitting alone in his dark room, still, he felt the need to cover his rosy cheeks.

“I’ve decided! It is my new mission in life to make you laugh all the time!” Shouyou’s voice was back to normal and Kenma could feel his cheeks getting hotter.

“Good luck, Kuroo’s been trying to do that for years.”

“Oh?! That sounds like a challenge and I never back away from a challenge!” Kenma rolled his eyes and let out a soft hum. “I’m serious Kenma! I’m going to make you laugh so much! Oh, I’m close to my apartment. I wonder if my roommate is up. He’s a year older than me, he’s super tall and quiet and he has no eyebrows. But he’s a really nice guy.”

“He has no eyebrows?”

“Well… he has super light hair so it looks like he doesn’t but they are just really light and small. He was supposed to come out with us, he’s on the team too but he doesn’t like big groups and he wanted to study for a test so oh well. Looks like he isn’t up anyway. I’m on the stoop now, thanks for letting me call you Kenma!”

“No problem.”

“I’m gonna go but I’ll still text you! Okay… umm bye!”

“Bye…” Kenma waited for the other to hang up before he did. After he hung up Kenma sat and looked at his phone for a few seconds. It was 45 minutes past midnight. That was the longest he’d ever talked on the phone with anyone. Longer even then phone calls with his mother, though he did tend to avoid those altogether. Kenma felt his phone buzz in his hand, he looked down and felt himself smile again.

 -

 _ (00:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Thanks for letting me call u Kenma!!! (* _ _ ≧∀≦ _ _ *) _

_ (00:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: It was super nice having somone to talk to while I walked!! _

_ (00:48) From:: Hinata Shouyou: And im totally serious about making u laugh more!! That was like the best sound ever! _

__

(00:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: If you say so. It was nice talking to you too.

 -

_ (00:50) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Thanks! I think… _

_ (00:51) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im gonna head to bed. I dont want ot wake up Aone. _

_ (00:51) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ill talk to u tmrrow! Night Kenma!! _

__

(00:53) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sleep well Shouyou. Talk to you tomorrow.

 -

Kenma laid down and started thinking. He thought about the way he was never worried that he was bothering Shouyou when he texts him. He thought about how Shouyou’s voice made him feel warm and almost comfortable. He thought about Shouyou’s smile and his promise to make him laugh. Kenma shimmied under his blanket and pulled it up to his chin. He closed his eyes, maybe he could get decent sleep tonight and text Shouyou in the morning.

Kenma laid in bed for a few minutes before a sudden realization hit him. The blond’s eyes shot open and he sat up quickly, looking over to his bedside table where his phone sat charging. He had a crush on Shouyou.

“Shit.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “And hey, maybe he is straight, but if I recall, as I read through your texts this morning, he called you pretty. So I kind of doubt that he is, and if he honestly cares about you being ace… that’s his problem. Not yours. And finally, you only avoid touch if you don’t know the person. The Kenma I know can actually be pretty clingy and will lie on top of me while playing video games just to have physical contact.” Kenma frowned, he hated when this secret genius with unrelenting bed head was right. He was fairly certain that every time Kuroo was right the bed head got worse, that’s where he stored all of his wisdom.

“Wait, I’m not seeing the problem here Kenma.” Kuroo said as he plopped down on Kenma’s couch rubbing his forehead both to try and ease his hangover and in an attempt to understand. “You had me wake up early on a Sunday, come to your place with the promise of miracle tea, all to tell me that you have a crush on your nice, cute, chibi-chan. Where exactly is your huge dilemma?”

“I can’t have a crush on Shouyou. I’ve never met him in person. I’ve only talked to him on the phone once and… and… he might be straight and even if he isn’t he probably isn’t interested in dating some asexual that avoids touch.” Kenma said before letting out a small sigh as he walked in from the kitchen holding two mugs, tea for Kuroo and coffee for himself. He sat beside his older friend and held the mug out.

“Don’t put yourself down like that.” Kuroo said as he looked at Kenma before taking the mug. “You have plenty of friends that you’ve never met in real life but that doesn’t mean they aren’t your real friends does it? The feelings you have towards them are still real.” Kuroo had that tone to his voice, the one that annoyed Kenma the most, because it meant that Kuroo knew he was right.

“Kenma, you talked to him on the phone, that’s kind of huge, you hate talking on the phone. The last time you had to make a call for yourself you had a mild panic attack. It’s amazing that you feel so comfortable with him. You rarely call me, I’m a little jealous to be honest.”  Kuroo hummed before sipping his tea. Kenma kept quiet, he knew his friend wasn’t done yet.

“And hey, maybe he is straight, but if I recall, as I read through your texts this morning, he called you pretty. So I kind of doubt that he is, and if he honestly cares about you being ace… that’s his problem. Not yours. And finally, you only avoid touch if you don’t know the person. The Kenma I know can actually be pretty clingy and will lie on top of me while playing video games just to have physical contact.” Kenma frowned, he hated when this secret genius with unrelenting bed head was right. He was fairly certain that every time Kuroo was right the bed head got worse, that’s where he stored all of his wisdom.

“Wait, you read through my texts?” Kenma asked reaching for his phone on the coffee table.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, Chibi-chan text you by the way. I took the liberty of texting him back for you.” Kuroo said, attempting to hide his mischievous grin behind his mug.

“You what?” Kenma questioned, his eyes going a little wide. He grabbed his phone and quickly unlocked it. “I’m changing the password.” He mumbled as he opened the messages to read what Kuroo had sent.

-

_(06:30) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Hey Kenma! Good morning!_ _ヾ_ _(_ _＾_ _∇_ _＾_ _)_

__

(07:10) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Morning. You’re up early, volleyball?

-

_ (07:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I know it’s awful! _

_ (07:10) From:: Hinata Shouyou: No! I wish it was volleyball!!! _

_ (07:11) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I hav to work the morning shift cause i traided w/ Yachi  _

_ (07:11) From:: Hinata Shouyou: its ok tho mornings arent so bad! Why r u up so early?? _

__

(07:11) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m spending the day with Kuroo. Where do you work?

-

_ (07:12) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Oh Cool!! _

_ (07:12) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I work at a little café called Morning Bean _

_ (07:13) From:: Hinata Shouyou: it’s a dumb name but the pay is good & evryone is super nice. _

__

(07:13) To:: Hinata Shouyou: That’s great, working there must be fun.

-

_  (07:14) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Ya its great! I get to meet so many people!!  _

_ (07:14) From:: Hinata Shouyou: ur replying a lot faster today, u must be bored lol. _

__

“You did all of this while I was making your tea?” Kenma asked looking at his so called friend with a frown. Kuroo’s shit eating grin was enough of an answer. “I hate you sometimes.”

-

(07:46) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Yeah, Kuroo is hung over and isn’t being much fun.

-

Kenma sent his reply, making sure Kuroo could see it as he sent the message. He felt a small smirk grow on his lips when he felt Kuroo sit up straighter beside him.

“Hey! I’m here out of the kindness of my heart! I could be sleeping right now!” Kuroo objected before he sank back into the couch and sipped his tea. Kenma simply offered a small shrug as he took a long drink of his coffee.

Kenma’s phone went off once, he waited a minute and sure enough five more pings rang out. Kuroo raised a brow and glanced at the phone in Kenma’s lap.

“That’s another thing, you hate multi-texters.” He commented. Kenma hid the small blush dusting his cheeks with his hair.

“Shouyou isn’t as annoying with it.” He mumbled into his mug.

“Well… are you going to answer him?” Kenma sighed and lifted his phone again.

 -

_ (07:46) From:: Hinata Shouyou: OH NO!!! _

_ (07:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: tell him to b more fun!!!! _

_ (07:47) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Id come save u but work T_T _

_ (07:48) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Do u like coffee?? _

_ (07:48) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I make the best coffee ever! U could always stop by if u want! _

_ (07:49) From:: Hinata Shouyou: To get away from Kuroo’s boring. _

 -

(07:53) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I do like coffee, I’ve never been to a café before.

-

Kuroo smirked, Kenma hated that his friend was so much taller than him and could easily read the texts over his shoulder. The black haired man gently nudged Kenma’s thigh with his knee and looked at him. The older was attempting to look innocent, but it didn’t work on him. Instead it just looked like he was plotting something horrible.

“No.” Kenma said before Kuroo could even get a word out.

“What? But I didn’t even say anything!” Kurro chuckled, knocking his knee against Kenma’s thigh again.

“You were going to say we should visit him at work and my answer is no.” Kenma said, making his voice as monotone as possible. It wasn’t hard; he’d had practice reading his best friend’s mind. It was almost second nature now. Kenma looked down at his phone ignoring Kuroo’s pout.

 -

_ (07:54) From:: Hinata Shouyou: RLLY thats OK!! _

_ (07:54) From:: Hinata Shouyou: ill make u the best coffee ever when u come by! _

_-_

(07:56) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sounds good. Shouldn’t you be working right now?

 -

_(07:56) From:: Hinata Shouyou: GAAH UR Right! I got the meanest look from my manager!!_ _(_ _￣＾￣_ _)_

_ (07:57) From:: Hinata Shouyou: TTYL Kenma!!! _

__

(07:59) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Text you later.

 -

“Are you really saying you don’t want to go see him?” Kuroo asked, he let out a soft sigh, the migraine medicine was finally kicking in and the tea was calming his stomach.

“No… It’s not that. I just…” Kenma let out a frustrated huff trying to make the words he was trying to say actually come out. “I can’t go see him. I-I just can’t okay. He is so friendly and nice and I’m pretty sure everyone likes him and he’s happy. He always seems so happy. I don’t want to mess that up.” Kenma said looking at his hands starting to pick at the skin around his fingernails, pulling at it roughly. Once he started it felt like he couldn’t stop, the words flowing out of his mouth easily for once in his life.

“What if… what if when he meets me he ends up hating me because I’m a downer? And then I won’t be able to talk to him anymore. Or he might think it’s weird that I don’t make eye contact. Worse what if he likes me and then I end up ruining his life because I don’t know how to be normal and I just end up dragging him down like I did with…” Kenma’s breath caught in his throat and he felt like he couldn’t get a breath in. He tucked his chin against his chest and closed his eyes. His heart hurt, it hurt so bad, he couldn’t breathe, his fingers hurt from picking, he can feel it but he can’t stop.

“Kenma? Hey, hey Kenma breathe.” He could hear Kuroo beside him, but he sounded like was under water. He sounded so far away. Kenma knew, knew that he could reach out and touch his friend but he couldn’t. Kenma shook his head before gasping in a breath of air and slowly letting it out. A large hand rested on his back, simply sitting there as a reminder that Kenma wasn’t alone.

“Kenma, you’re okay. Breathe, you didn’t drag me down. I know what you were going to say and you didn’t bring me down. If anything you helped me so much through my life. I don’t know where I’d be without you as my best friend. You’re an amazing person.” Kuroo said softly, this was a voice that Kenma knew well, it was soft but sure, there was no waver in it.

“Shouyou is lucky to have you in his life and I’m sure he feels the same way. He won’t hate you, he won’t stop talking to you, and you won’t drag him down. You need to stop putting yourself down so much. Ken, you’re amazing and I know that he thinks so too.” Kuroo’s other hand gently rested over Kenma’s making him freeze completely.

“Do you need your meds?” He asked softly, Kenma simply shook his head.

“How about a hug and some bad movies?” There was a slight bob of Kenma’s head that made Kuroo sigh. Thank god, it was only mild; he didn’t get too stuck in his head. Kuroo wrapped his arm around Kenma and pulled him closer. He turned on the tv searching for a movie that would be distracting enough to keep Kenma from thinking too much. Just when he decided on a movie and relaxed beside Kenma, who was still staring at the floor there were two soft pings from Kenma’s phone. The blond frowned and opted to hide his face in Kuroo’s side instead. Kuroo grabbed his friend’s phone and opened the text for him.

 -

_ (08:26) From:: Hinata Shouyou: My coworkers r being jerks. They don’t think ur real ether  _

_(08:26) From:: Hinata Shouyou: But I know u are and that makes me super happy. Im super happy I get to know u kenma!!!!_ _＼_ _(_ _★_ _^_ _∀_ _^_ _★_ _)_ _／_

__

“Chibi-chan texted you. He said that he’s really happy he gets to know you.” Kuroo said softly as he laid the phone down on his lap where Kenma could read them for himself. The smaller man grabbed his phone and quickly typed out a message before locking it and setting it to the side, focusing on the movie rather than anything else around him.

“’M sorry…”

“Don’t be. A day watching shitty movies with my best friend, there’s nothing better than this.” Kuroo said softly moving a little to make sure Kenma could get comfortable. Kenma simply nodded, curling into Kuroo’s side.

__

(08:30) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I’m happy I get to know you too Shouyou. You’re a really good friend, thanks for always texting me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you are in enjoying the story! The next chapter will be in Shouyou's POV, just to give you guys a heads up!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Foom?” Kenma asked his voice light and sounding almost playful from his laughter.  
> “Y-yeah, but like FOOM, its different than like WHAM or PWAA but it’s kind of like GOUF.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day? Well what can I say except I am bored and have no life. Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

_ (10:32) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): KENMA!!!! Im on break! What r u up to?? _

_ (10:32) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Still w/ Kuroo? _

_ (12:33) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): This lady came in and ordered the weirdest coffee evr!! _

_ (12:33) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): It was cold w/ extr espresso & no milk but hvy cream??? Like it made no sense!!! _

_ (12:34) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): I had to make it 3 times bfor I got it rite _

_ (12:34) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): it was soooo annoying!!! _

_ (12:38) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *):Ill let u be w/kuroo. Hope hes less boring now! _

_ (14:05) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): I forgot how long this shift was! _

_ (14:05) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): well not that long…. But im so hppy im off! _

_ (15:38) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): R u taking another nap?? _

_ (17:33) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Did I do somthign wrong???? _

_ (17:33) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *):if I did plz tell me _

_ (19:54) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Kenma? _

__

Shouyou looked down at his phone, watching, waiting for a message to appear on his screen. He wracked his brain for anything that he could have said that might have upset Kenma. Maybe it was inviting him to come to the café. It was too soon to meet in person, Kenma was shy and he knew this. Shouyou smacked his hand to his forehead, a loud smack sounding through the small living room of his apartment. Aone and Kageyama looked at him, one with concern the other with annoyance.

“Hey dumbass will you focus on the history homework, I want to go home eventually.” Kageyama said from his spot on the couch where he was crouched over an open history textbook. Shouyou looked up from him from his spot on the floor.

“Shut up! I think Kenma is mad at me.” Shouyou said crestfallen as he looked back at his phone, waking the screen up to see if any messages had come in. None had and he was starting to worry that he’d lost his friend because he was being stupid and tried to get Kenma to do something that he wasn’t comfortable with.

“Probably, I gave you the wrong number so you wouldn’t annoy me, not so you could annoy someone else.” The black-haired man mumbled, not reading the situation as he focused on the paper he was supposed to be writing.

“Really?! Oh man! Do you think I can fix it?! I didn’t mean to annoy him. What if he hates me now and doesn’t want to talk to me anymore?!” Shouyou cried, falling back on the floor landing hard, his head hitting the floor with a thud. He threw his arm over his face and let out a long sigh. “I really thought we got along! He was so cool guys! Like so smart, and funny! And he has this laugh that is amazing and… and… he’s really pretty! But what if he is mad at me and doesn’t want to talk anymore, I really wanted to meet him but now I never will and I’ll never be able to see him in person and tell him he’s super cool-“

“Hinata-kun, your phone went off.” Aone pointed out softly when Shouyou paused long enough for him to get a word in. The small ginger shot up and quickly grabbed his phone opening his messages with record speed.

-

(20:15) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Hey its Kuroo Kenma’s friend. He doesn’t feel good and doesn’t feel up to talking but wanted me to tell you didn’t do anything wrong and that he’ll text you later.

-

 _ (20:15) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): OH!! OK!! _

_ (20:16) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Tell him I hope he feels better!! _

__

(20:17) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Sure thing Chibi-chan.

-

Shouyou looked at his phone slightly confused, his head tilting to the side much like a puppy would when looking at something they don’t quite understand. He wanted to ask Kuroo questions, like what happened, was it a stomach bug or maybe a headache? Was there anything that he could do was the major question that he wanted to ask and he couldn’t. He just really wanted to talk to Kenma, to text him and keep learning more and more about the older man. He wanted to talk to him on the phone again because he liked hearing his voice and had learned that Kenma’s laugh is the sound that angels would make.

“Guys, I think I like Kenma.” Shouyou said with a serious hint to his voice as he watched the ceiling fan go round.

“No shit, you’ve been talking about him for five days straight. Something you obviously are not.” Kageyama huffed as he copied different dates into a notebook. Aone smirked softly at that and kept quiet, reading his microbiology book as though it were actually something entertaining.

“Hey! You’re not either! So…” Shouyou stuck his tongue out at Kageyama before flopping back onto the floor again. “Its just… he’s a web designer and he has clients, like bwah that’s really grown up! And he’s shy, he doesn’t like loud places, I think he’s like Yachi and Yamaguchi. He’s always with this one friend, and he came to one of our games!” Shouyou opened his phone and started scrolling through his camera roll, clicking on the selfie that Kenma had sent him.

“And he’s so pretty, I’ve never seen eyes like that, like golden and cat like, they are like whoa, and his hair, is like waaah, even with it only half dyed it still looks good. Oh man…” Shouyou covered his blushing face with his hands letting out a loud groan. “I’m so gay!”

“If I agree with you will you shut the fuck up?” Kageyama questioned glaring at the ginger, he sometimes wondered how this kid ended up being his closest friend.

“No! Because he probably doesn’t like me back and my heart is breaking so just let me… what’s the word?” Shouyou paused in the middle of his dramatic wail to look at Aone searching for the right word.

“Lament.” The gentle giant supplied not even looking up from his book.

“Yeah that!” Shouyou nodded. Kageyama sighed and decided his only option was to give up on his notes at his point, he wasn’t going to get anywhere with the usual ball of sunshine acting like this.

“Look dumbass, if he didn’t like you he wouldn’t talk to you. So why don’t you just tell him and see what he says?” The taller suggested taking a drink of tea that he’d forgot he had in the first place. Kageyama made a face when he realized how cold it was and immediately put the cup back down.

“I can’t do that! He’ll laugh me out of Tokyo!”

“Then stop fucking complaining!”

“Make me!” Shouyou yelled shooting a look at his friend. Before Kageyama could respond Aone simply cleared his throat and gave each of them a pointed look.

“Sorry.” The two younger boys said in unison.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shouyou sat on his bed watching a volleyball game on his phone when he felt it buzz. He paused it and opened the message smiling brightly when he realized it was from Kenma.

-

(23:54) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Sorry for not texting you all day.

-

 _ (23:54) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Its OK!!  _

_ (23:55) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): R U feeling better???  _

__

(23:59) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Yeah.

-

 _ (23:59) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Good!! I was a little worried about you! _

_ (00:00) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Im rlly glad ur feeling  better!  _

_ (00:00) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): I think I annoyed my roommate and Kageyama cuz I kept talking about u. _

_ (00:01) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): but like not in a creepy way!!!! In a way like u talk about friends u know?? _

__

(00:09) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Hey Shouyou

(00:09) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*) Could you call me again?

-

Shouyou felt a grin stretch across his face. He was worried that he’d crossed a line but maybe this was a good thing if Kenma wanted him to call him again. He quickly pressed the call option next to Kenma’s name and brought his phone to his ear waiting. Shouyou started humming happily as he sat on his bed, bouncing on the spongey surface, unable to rein in his joy.

“Hello?” Kenma’s voice sounded rougher than usual, Shouyou decided to mark it off as his friend being sick and didn’t think much of it.

“Hey Kenma! I’m really really glad you’re feeling better. Was it a stomach bug? Those are the worst!”

“No… it was just something that hit me… it passed though so its okay. But umm… how was your day Shouyou?” The ginger beamed at the question, feeling his chest fill with butterflies when Kenma said his name.

“My day was great! I texted you about the weird coffee lady, but then a bunch of college students came in, which isn’t weird cause the shop is kinda close to the campus but like so many came in! And there was this guy with crazy two colored hair, like white and black color and it was styled like PWAA! He bought three coffees. Then ran out with them and it was so confusing because he was super hyper!” Shouyou went on telling Kenma about his day using his free hand to gesture as he talked.

“Oh, you met Bokuto.” Kenma said, it sounded like he had a small smile on his face but Shouyou couldn’t be sure. Even the thought of Kenma smiling made the younger man’s smile grow.

“Wait you knew him? How?”

“He’s Kuroo’s roommate, Kuroo texted him and asked him to bring us coffee.”

“So I made your coffee!! Was it good? Did you like it?” Shouyou asked, leaning forward as if he was trying to get closer to Kenma even though they were just talking on the phone.

“It was great, the best coffee I’ve ever had.” That time Shouyou was sure that he’d heard what could have been classified as a chuckle if it had been a little louder. Shouyou was bouncing again, unable to keep his energy in. He laughed and fist pumped, even doing a little dance as he sat there.

“Yes! I’m really glad you liked it! Now I know that if you ever come to the café you’re going to love what I make! I can’t wait to tell Kageyama. He said my coffee tastes like shit but he always comes in and gets a cup everyday I’m working. It’s because he secretly loves it. But that’s between me and you okay Kenma? It’s our first friend secret!” Shouyou heard a soft hum drift into his ear and he looked over at the clock on his nightstand. He hadn’t realized that they had already been talking nearly half an hour.

“Gahh! I keep talking and you can hardly get a word in that must be super annoying! Sorry! I can shut up now and you can tell me about your day with Kuroo if you want!” Shouyou said quickly not wanting to annoy Kenma.

“Hmm? Oh, it was fine. We didn’t do much. We spent the day watching bad movies and eating takeout. But umm… its okay if you want to talk more. I… I like listening to you talk Shouyou.” Kenma sounded shy again, once what he said sunk in Shouyou felt his cheeks start to flush.

“Ahh really?! That sounds like a really fun day! I don’t really get days to just sit around and do nothing, I’m either always in classes or at practice or at work, that sounds super fun though!” Shouyou ran a hand through his unruly hair and let out a soft chuckle trying to ignore the blush on his cheeks.

“You, liking my voice… is… is that why you wanted me to call? ‘Cause that’s okay! I really like talking to you so its not like it’s a problem or anything.”

“Yeah, it is. I umm… I usually hate talking on the phone. I hate it a lot actually, but talking to you is okay because you’re… you’re umm…”

“Sunshine?” Shouyou used Kenma’s own description of him, his face a red mess with a large grin that probably would have hurt anyone else who attempted it.

“Yeah, sunshine.” Kenma agreed quietly, his voice was almost a whisper. It made Shouyou wonder if maybe Kenma was embarrassed about it.

“Well you can call me anytime! I love talking on the phone! Mostly because it actually lets me talk and I don’t have to send like seven texts trying to get all my thoughts out because I am really not good at staying focused on something. It will be like we’re talking and my brain goes FOOM and I’m thinking of twenty other things.” Shouyou was about to go on when he heard Kenma’s small laugh again. That small tinkling that made the ginger blush. He felt the heat rising up his neck and even at the tips of his ears. That, was his favorite sound and he would be okay listening to it for the rest of his life.

“Foom?” Kenma asked his voice light and sounding almost playful from his laughter.

“Y-yeah, but like FOOM, its different than like WHAM or PWAA but it’s kind of like GOUF.” Shouyou tried to explain moving his hand even though he knew Kenma couldn’t see him. Again, there was laughter ringing into his ear, this time a little louder, Shouyou wasn’t sure if Kenma was laughing at him or his poor way of explaining, but then he heard the faux blond let out the tiniest snort still laughing and he decided rather quickly that he didn’t care what Kenma was laughing at. Shouyou started laughing too, he always found laughter contagious and he just liked doing it. Then he heard a muffled, “Holy Shit! Kenma you’re laughing!” over the phone. Shouyou heard Kenma let out a soft groan.

“Bokuto wait…”

“Bro! Bro! Kenma’s on the phone and he’s laughing!”

“WHAT?”

“Umm Kenma? What’s happening right now?” Shouyou asked a little confused. Last he knew Kenma didn’t have roommates so why were there two other voices he could hear shouting in the background about “Let us in!” “Is it Chibi-chan!? I need to talk to him!”

“Umm… Kuroo and Bokuto are both still here and I guess Bokuto came back to check on me and I don’t laugh a lot so they are both trying to get into my room now.” Shouyou laughed at this explanation and fell backwards on his bed, letting his head hit the pillow.

“Why are they calling me Chibi-chan?” It was quiet for a few seconds, neither of them talking before Kenma said in a very monotone voice.

“Because you’re short.”

“Rude! I am not short I am the perfect me size!” Shouyou defended himself with a shout resenting the name completely.

“If you say so Shouyou. I should go, Kuroo threatened to pick the lock and he actually might. The last time he did I needed to get a whole new door handle. It was umm… it was nice talking to you. Thank you again for calling me.” Kenma said, Shouyou could hear that he was nervous, about what exactly the ginger wasn’t sure.

“Oh! Sure! I should probably go to bed! Early classes tomorrow. Night Kenma! Thanks for talking to me!” Shouyou smiled brightly, he wished he could see Kenma, that way he could smile at him and the blond would know that there is no reason to be nervous around him.

“Good night Shouyou. Sleep well.” Kenma said, before there was a loud bang, a shout, and the line went dead. Shouyou sat there, Kenma seemed so quiet and reserved, how did he have such seemingly out going and loud friends. Maybe he did have a chance at Kenma liking him. Shouyou smiled to himself, happy that he could make Kenma laugh twice that night. He was about to plug his phone into the charger and go to sleep when he felt it go off.

-

(01:35) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): They picked the lock. Thankfully it was too late.

-

 _ (01:35) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Y keep me a secrt???  _

__

(01:42) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): I don’t feel like sharing you with them yet.

-

Shouyou tuned bright red and hid his face in his pillow. Oh, My God that was so cute! How was Kenma allowed to be alive it should illegal to be as pretty as him and cute and to say things like that. Shouyou was dead, he was dying.

-

(01:43) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Ignore that text please. But… thanks again for calling me Shouyou. It’s nice getting to hear someone talk sometimes. I’ll text you tomorrow. Sleep well.

-

Shouyou simply smiled at his phone, letting it rest on his chest as he looked up at the ceiling. He sent Kenma a quick good night text and plugged his phone in before checking to make sure he had all his alarms turned on. He needed to be up early if he wanted to get a run in before classes. The ginger let out a small yawn and fell asleep replaying that conversation in his head. This had been the best night ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be in Shouyou's POV too. (〇*>∀


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yeah, I know. We’ll get there. But I’m hungry so what do you want?” The black-haired man questioned as he looked over the menu. His eyes drifted down and met Shouyou’s. Now the height impaired ginger was sure of two things in that moment. He has never seen a more sinister smirk in all his years, and he never wants to again.

Their night time calls had become a nightly occurrence. In two weeks, they’d only missed three calls, one because Shouyou fell asleep before he could call, once because Kenma said he was tired and wasn’t up to talking and the last was because Shouyou was on a bus and he knew his teammates would never let him live it down if he called Kenma where all of them could hear. None of that mattered to him though, Shouyou was elated that he got to talk to Kenma almost every night.

It was normally him talking with Kenma adding small well placed hums or adding small details about his day. They were learning more and more about each other, and this did nothing to help Shouyou’s crush. Actually it only proved to make it worse if him sitting in the break room smiling down at his phone like a fool had anything to say about it.

-

(11:43) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Image Attached

(11:43) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Kuroo gave me a kitten. He found him in the alley by his apartment.

-

_(11:44) To:: Kenma!!(_ _☆_ _ω_ _☆_ _*): Hes so cute and fluffy!!!_ _(_ _〇_ _* >_ _∀_ _< )_ _ゞ_ _★☆_

_ (11:44) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): And orange!!! _

_ (11:45) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Wht r u gonna name him???? _

-

(11:48) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): He’s really hyper too. He reminds me of you, maybe I’ll name him Shou.

-

_ (11:48) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): RLLY?!?!??? _

_ (11:49) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): Ud name him after me???? _

_ (11:49) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): KENMA THATS SO SWEET!!!!! Im blushing! (* _ _ ≧∀≦ _ _ *) _

__

(11:52) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Why not? He reminds me of you and I like you so… yeah. I’ll name him Shou.

-

_ (11:52) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): THANKS KENMA!!! _

_ (11:53) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): I like u tooo!!! _

_ (11:53) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): My break is almst ovr… _ _ ＿ﾉ乙 _ _ ( _ _ ､ﾝ､ _ _ ) _ _ ＿ _

_ (11:54) To:: Kenma!!( _ _ ☆ _ _ ω _ _ ☆ _ _ *): TTYL KENMA!!!! _

__

(11:57) From:: Kenma!!(☆ω☆*): Text you later, have fun at work.

-

“Umm… Hinata? Your face is really red right now. Are you okay? You don’t have a fever, do you? If you do you should really be at home resting” A small;; worried voice sounded from in front of him. Shouyou looked up and saw Yachi standing there ringing her hands, searching his face for any signs that he might be sick.

“What? Oh! Ummm… No! I’m not… I don’t…” Shouyou turned an even darker red trying to find a way to explain his blush without further embarrassing himself. He was failing spectacularly.

“Oh! Are you talking to Kenma-san again?” Yachi asked a small smile growing on her lips. Shouyou let out a sigh and rubbed his hand over his cheek trying to reduce the redness.

“Is it that obvious?” He asked trying not to blush more when he heard her small laugh and saw her nod. Shouyou let out a groan and flopped back in his chair, his head resting over the back, making the room seem upside down.

“I know! But he’s just so great! I don’t want to ruin out friendship and he’s really shy too so I don’t want to pressure him into anything! But also I really like him and really want to meet him in person I just don’t know!” Shouyou whined all of his words coming out in one rushed breath. He lifted his head to look to his friend for advice. Yachi blinked and shifted on her feet.

“I don’t think you’ll ruin you’re friendship.” She said softly offering a reassuring yet slightly anxious smile. “Oh! I was sent back here to tell you break is over and you’re off register, they’re switching us.” She said gesturing to the store front. Shouyou nodded and smiled brightly at his friend. He jumped up from his chair and grabbed hold of Yachi’s hand.

“No problem! Let’s get out there!” He cheered, pulling her to the front with him. He took his spot at the various machines they used to make the coffees, Yachi stood with her back to him at the register welcoming anyone who walked into the café. It was a slow day, not many people filtering in or out, so Shouyou took to people watching when he didn’t have orders. He watched two college students, sitting so close they were almost on top of each other as they argued about something in the book they were sharing. Shouyou heard the bell above the door jingle and called out a warm “WELCOME” paying little mind to who had walked in as he bounced on the balls of his feet excited for an order.

What did catch his attention about the customers that had just walked in was the fact that at the counter it sounded like a completely one sided conversation was happening. He noticed Yachi looking up at a tall man with wild black hair, she was nearly shaking, he couldn’t really blame her, this guy did look like trouble. The guy however was simply looking down at his side, but Shouyou couldn’t see who he was talking to because Yachi was blocking his view. Curse his height!

“You said you wanted to go out so we’re out.” The tall man said with a smirk. There was a short pause then he was talking again. “Yeah, I know. We’ll get there. But I’m hungry so what do you want?” The black-haired man questioned as he looked over the menu. His eyes drifted down and met Shouyou’s. Now the height impaired ginger was sure of two things in that moment. He has never seen a more sinister smirk in all his years, and he never wants to again. Then just like that the smirk is gone and the tall, intimidating, sinister, black-haired man is looking down at his side again.

“Hmm? Oh yeah right… One latte with… are you sure? Okay three extra shots of espresso, a chili Mocha, two chocolate chip cookies and an apple dumpling please.” The man said with what actually seemed to be a friendly smile. Yachi nodded stiffly as she punched in their order and brought him back a ticket that had their drinks scribbled on in bright pink pen. She walked back to the register and took the man’s money before going to grab their pastries. Shouyou bounced in place as he made the drinks, bouncing to the soft beat of the music that was constantly playing. Always something soft and calming, he liked swaying to it better but it was harder making drinks when swaying so he stuck to the small bounces.

He was nearly done the drinks, ready to give them to Yachi so she could take them out when he heard a very loud, very forced, gasp. He jumped when he heard two hands hit the counter behind him and looked back only to see the tall, wild haired man staring at him with a gleam in his eyes that Shouyou didn’t like at all.

“Well I’ll be damned! Chibi-chan!” The man exclaimed, his smirk growing wide. Chibi-chan, but only two people called him that and this obviously wasn’t Bokuto so then… “Kenma look! It’s Chibi-chan making our drinks!” The man called to a small booth where a small form sat hiding his head in his hands. Kenma? Shouyou could see the dark brown of his roots, the blond hiding his face. He saw the man glance up, gold, cat-like eyes catching his.

Shouyou nearly dropped both drinks he was holding, holy shit, that was Kenma and he was sitting in the café. His sweatshirt was too big and he looked bright red with embarrassment and all Shouyou could think was ‘holy shit that’s Kenma! His Kenma! And damn was he cute’.

“KENMA!” He called with a bright smile as he bounded over to the booth deciding he’d hand deliver these drinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one was super short sorry about that! The next chapter should be out soon and we'll be back in Kenma's POV! Thanks for reading!!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kenma watched carefully, half expecting the man to tell the orange haired barista to skimp on the espresso. Orange haired barista…. Kenma’s eyes widened in horror as he watched Kuroo gasp loudly and slam his hands down on the counter making the short ginger jump and look at him confused.

Kenma looked at the small puff of orange Kuroo had nestled in his arms, the taller man was smiling brightly at Kenma, of course to Kenma it only meant that his friend wanted something.

“What is it?” He asked stepping to the side so Kuroo could come in. He handed the ball of fluff to Kenma so he could take off his shoes. Kenma looked down at the small ball as it let out an almost pathetic mew, the kitten’s head popping up to look at Kenma. The blond looked down at the small cat before watching as the kitten nuzzled against his hand and let out a soft purr before once again settling in his hands in a small ball.

“I found the little guy in the alley beside my building, poor thing looked like he was freezing. My apartment doesn’t allow pets, but yours does. So, what do you say? Wanna keep him?” Kuroo asked gently petting the kittens head as Kenma held it in the most gentle of grips, bringing his hands closer to his chest so there was even less of a chance of him dropping the small animal.

“Yeah… I can keep him. We need to get some stuff though. I have nothing for cats here.” Kenma pointed out, preoccupied with looking down at the cat, his thumb rubbing over the curve of his back.

“We can get that stuff later,” Kuroo shrugged, “Right now I need a shower after the run I just took and this little guy needs to get used to his new home. You should let him down so he can run around a little.” Kenma simply nodded at his friend not showing any sign of letting the small cat down anytime soon. Kuroo rolled his eyes and went back to the bathroom to shower. Kenma walked over to his couch and sat down still holding the small animal. He pulled out his phone and took a picture while the cat was still curled on his lap. He sent the picture to Shouyou, a small smile edging at his lips. The picture, seemed to set the cat off though, as soon as Kenma took it the little ball of orange fur was running around the apartment with speed that Kenma didn’t know kittens had. Kenma watched as the small kitten tried to jump up on different furniture, then onto the table, then rolling off rather ungracefully before standing and starting to run again. He smiled watching as he ran around.

Shouyou wanted to know what he’d name him. Kenma thought for a few seconds. He couldn’t think of anything, other than the fact that the cat reminded him of the ginger himself. Would it be weird to name a street cat after your crush? Kenma blushed at the idea of naming this cat after Shouyou. As embarrassed as it made Kenma feel he also felt that it was too fitting a name to pass up. After telling Shouyou this he quickly decided that yes, the small cat’s name would in fact be Shou, because he was small, hyper, orange, and cute… Kenma mentally scratched out that last one. He was still trying to ignore this crush but it wasn’t working for him in the slightest. Instead he found himself looking forward to phone calls for once in his life. He smiled more, laughed more, Kuroo even commented on the fact that he looked happier than he had in a while when he was texting Shouyou.

Even though the two had never met Kenma did feel more at ease with Shouyou. He’d learned a few days ago that two of his friends have anxiety and his roommate doesn’t like speaking to people an often opts into staying quiet. He wasn’t as afraid that the ginger would find him insane anymore. Now he was just afraid of Shouyou completely rejecting him because Kenma couldn’t rein in his feelings and had to go and develop a crush on the best friend he’s had since he met Kuroo when he was one year old. Though that didn’t really count, their mothers had set up those playdates. The two just became inseparable over time and they still were to this day. Or maybe it wasn’t that Kenma couldn’t rein in his feelings it was that he wouldn’t be able to show them right and Shouyou would end up think that he hated him, which was something Kenma feared. He was often told that he didn’t show enough emotion and often left people guessing about how he felt about something.

“You’re thinking too much!” Kuroo called from the hall as he walked to Kenma’s room to grab a set of spare clothes that he kept in Kenma’s closet. Kenma sighed and he looked at the small kitten which had managed to climb up on the couch and curl up in a mess of blankets and a sweatshirt making almost a nest around him. Kenma’s lip quirked up at the sight. Kuroo walked out and looked at Kenma before he finished pulling on his shirt. He had a smirk that Kenma knew meant trouble but he ignored it in favor of looking back at his new cat as it slept on his couch.

“We need to get him food and stuff. Want to put him in the bathroom so he doesn’t piss on everything you own?” The taller man asked as he walked over to the couch gently scratching the top of Shou’s head. Kenma looked at his friend and nodded softly moving to pick the cat up, he cradled the small puff of orange to his chest and walked back to the bathroom.

“Will he be okay in here? I don’t want to leave him locked in here for too long. He doesn’t have any food or formula. Is he old enough for real food, he seems really small.” Kenma questioned a little worried, he heard Kuroo rummaging around in his kitchen before he joined Kenma at the bathroom door with a small plate of what looked like smashed up tuna and a small dish of water.

“He’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re going to be gone all day. He’s plenty old he was probably just the runt and got left by his mother. Now come on, put the little guy down and let’s go. I want to stop and get some food before we go to the pet store.” Kuroo said as he put the dishes down on the bathmat and took Shou from Kenma’s hands gently sitting him beside the dishes of food and water.

“Yeah okay, where are we going?” Kenma asked as he closed the bathroom door, making sure to leave the light on so he didn’t shut Shou in the dark.

“I don’t know yet, let’s walk a bit and stop when something looks good.” Kuroo suggested tossing a sweatshirt at Kenma.

“Okay, I guess I should get out a little.” Kenma grabbed it and tugged it on not realizing until he already had his arms in the sleeves that it was one that Kuroo had left on the back of his couch. “I’ve been working on this page for three days straight and they just keep adding more stuff that they want. Its starting to get annoying.” Kenma sighed glancing at his open laptop before the turned and grabbed his keys and wallet from the table by the door and walked out after Kuroo locking it.

“Perfect! Then we can get you some fresh air and your new little buddy some things and we’ll be back in no time.” The taller said as he walked out of the apartment building pulling Kenma out behind him.  

Kenma watched his phone as the two walked. He held onto Kuroo’s sleeve with one hand as his other tapped away on his phone screen moving through the level of a puzzle game with ease. Kuroo glanced down at him and rose a brow.

“Not texting Chibi-chan?” He asked a little surprised. Kenma simply shook his head.

“Shouyou’s at work.” He mumbled, moving closer to Kuroo as the crowd around them grew. If he had been paying better attention, Kenma would have noticed the evil grin that grew on Kuroo’s lips. But he wasn’t, this level was annoying him and he’d had to restart the puzzle four times already.

“Interesting.” The two walked for a bit longer before Kuroo stopped in front of a generic looking store front with window art of coffee cups and pastries, surrounded by brightly colored flowers and a sun sitting in the upper corner. “Let’s stop here.” Kuroo said nodding to the door as he walked over to it.

“A coffee shop?” Kenma asked with a furrowed brow as he was pulled to the door, still holding Kuroo’s sleeve. Kuroo looked back at him with a shrug.

“Why not? You love coffee and it’s a café.” He said with a small smirk as he pulled the door open and let Kenma walk in first. Kenma looked up at the menu, there was art decorating it, small pictures of the pastries beside their names, everything written in neat handwriting in chalk. There was a welcome shouted from behind the counter where a small blonde girl stood. She was staring at Kuroo slightly horrified as they walked up to the counter. Kuroo with a smirk on his face stared down at the girl not helping with her obvious fear of him.

“Be nice, and we can’t stay long. We have to get back soon and I don’t want to be out too long.” Kenma said quietly still looking down at his phone. He’d dropped Kuroo’s sleeve once they were inside because it wasn’t busy he didn’t feel as nervous in the almost empty café.

“You said you wanted to go out so we’re out.” Kuroo said with a smirk as he read over the menu.

“We need to go to the pet store.” Kenma pointed out, his voice staying quiet enough that he saw the girl at the counter even straining to hear him.

“Yeah, I know. We’ll get there. But I’m hungry so what do you want?” Kuroo asked looking behind the counter at something Kenma couldn’t see, the cashier was in his way. Kenma looked up at the menu for a brief moment.

“Latte three shots of espresso and an apple dumpling.” He mumbled before looking back down at his phone.

“Hmm?” Kuroo seemed distracted by the thing he was looking at behind the counter before he snapped out of it and looked at the cashier again. “Oh yeah right… One latte with… are you sure?” He asked glancing down at Kenma.

Kenma simply glanced up at him before nodding and holding up three fingers because he knew that Kuroo would try and order less. He was always trying to hamper his caffeine addiction.

“Okay three extra shots of espresso, a chili Mocha, two chocolate chip cookies and an apple dumpling please.” Kuroo ordered offering the cashier a friendly smile trying to make her a little less nervous or at least less afraid of him. It didn’t seem to help at all because she was still very stiff as she walked their orders back to the barista making their drinks.

“Go get us a booth, I’ll be over soon.” Kuroo said motioning to the booth by the door. Kenma nodded and walked over, not looking up from his phone until he was already sat down and saw Kuroo walking over to the counter. Kenma watched carefully, half expecting the man to tell the orange haired barista to skimp on the espresso. Orange haired barista…. Kenma’s eyes widened in horror as he watched Kuroo gasp loudly and slam his hands down on the counter making the short ginger jump and look at him confused.

“Well I’ll be damned! Chibi-chan!” The man exclaimed, his smirk growing wide. He looked back at Kenma, who was already hiding his head in his hands trying to avoid the awkwardness that was sure to follow this encounter.

“Kenma look! It’s Chibi-chan making our drinks!” Kuroo yelled, he knew he was smirking and Kenma knew something else too, that he really hated his best friend sometimes. Kenma glanced up when he thought it was safe only to meet large brown eyes looking in to his, a confused look on the ginger’s face before realization dawned on him and his eyes somehow got wider. Kenma hid his face in the oversized sleeves again. This could not get any worse.

“KENMA!” He heard a new but familiar voice call before footsteps started coming closer. Kenma glanced up to see Shouyou standing there with a bright smile on his face as he held Kenma’s coffee out to him. Kenma slowly reached out to take the coffee, distracted by Shouyou’s smile. It was even brighter and friendlier up close and in person.  

“I’m so excited we finally get to meet!” Shouyou certainly did sound excited, his voice filling the previously quiet café. Kenma, in that moment, wasn’t thinking about the other patrons that were probably staring at them. He wasn’t thinking about the blush that was crawling up his neck and to his cheeks. He was only thinking about the fact that Shouyou have very rich brown eyes and he really liked the color.

“Yeah… I’m excited too Shouyou.” He said with a small smile pulling at his lips. As if forgetting he was at work the ginger slid into the seat across from Kenma and smiled brightly, his hands resting on the table between them. He glanced over and saw Kuroo standing at the counter with the small blonde cashier. He looked back at Shouyou, relaxing slightly into the seat behind him taking a sip of his coffee. Shouyou watched him expectantly. The coffee was strong, smooth, it smelled amazing and Kenma had to wonder how he hadn’t come here before. It was only a few blocks from his building.

“This is umm… its really good.” He said putting the cup back on the table. Shouyou lit up and let out a nervous breath.

“Really?! I was kind of nervous I didn’t make it right; people don’t usually order that much extra espresso.” He said with a small laugh. “But I’m super glad you like it! Oh! You have to talk to me for a little. That must be Kuroo right?” Shouyou got the words out fast, it almost seemed like all of it was spoken in one breath. Kenma looked down at the table, trying desperately to hide the blush on his cheeks.

“Yeah… I can talk for a little.” He said still looking down at the table. He heard a cheer from Shouyou and couldn’t help the small smile on his lips. Kenma knew that Kuroo had dragged him in here on purpose, and as much as he hated the man sometimes, Kuroo always pulled through and reminded Kenma why he liked him in the first place. He looked over at his friend and nodded. Both as an answer to Shouyou’s question and to show he was okay, and he was okay. Kenma was coming to realize that he could probably listen to Shouyou chatter on for hours.

He relaxed more in his seat and watched the younger man’s mouth as he spoke. Kenma, although still knowing he was in public and still a little anxious about meeting Shouyou. Kenmawasn’t worrying for once what people around him were thinking. He was focused on Shouyou, and the small ginger, he found, was a very good thing to be focused on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go all!! Kenma's reaction to meeting Shouyou for the first (second) time! Hope you enjoy!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo turn back to look at the counter, he looked around the hipster college student that was currently ordering and met the blonde girl’s eye. He grinned at her and winked making her turn a bright red as she tried desperately to take the student’s order without overheating. Kenma sighed softly and glanced up at his friend.  
> “Must you harass innocent people?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!!! I am so so sorry this took so long to post. I'm going to try and have a new chapter up every Tuesday now. But I can't always promise, winter is a hard time for me to be motivated but I will try for all of you!

Kenma had the faintest of smiles on his lips as he sat in front of Shouyou. The small ginger was talking about how he was almost late to work this morning. Kenma already know this, he’s gotten the whole story in text while Shouyou was running down the street to get to the shop.

“Yeah! But I was on time and I got to see you! And oh man! It is like a great day because wow! I get to meet you and just like I said about your picture you’re really pretty and your eyes are amazing and… I’m rambling.” Shouyou said with a nervous laugh as he rubs at the back of his neck. Kenma felt the blush spreading across his cheeks he looked down into his nearly finished coffee trying to hide behind his hair.

“Umm… thank you. I like your hair and you have a nice smile.” He said into his cup afraid to look at Shouyou. If Kenma had looked up he would see the bright flush that spread across Shouyou’s freckled nose as he lets out another nervous laugh.

“Really!? Thanks!” Shouyou was loud, his voice was loud, his personality is loud. So much of him should have put Kenma off, that’s why he really didn’t want to meet the younger man. But sitting with him was okay, he didn’t feel pressured. He was still anxious, he might say something wrong, or make himself sound stupid, he was still in public even if no one had come into the shop while he was sitting there. Kuroo still wasn’t sitting with them, he was talking to the little blonde at the counter and she looked less terrified but still nervous about the tall roster haired man standing so close to her. She looked to be blushing. Kenma sighed inwardly, leave it to Kuroo to toss him into a situation like this and go flirt with some poor girl.

“Hey Kenma, can I ask you something?” Kenma froze for a second. There are so many things this could be. He was screwed what if it was a personal question? He wasn’t very good at answering them. He slowly looked up and blinked when his eyes fell on Shouyou. He didn’t look like the Shouyou that Kenma had seen through this whole conversation. He didn’t have a bright smile, or a shine in his eyes. No, he looked serious, Kenma looked into his eyes for a brief second, there was something there, determination, power, something entirely Shouyou. Kenma looked down at the younger man’s nose and simply nodded. The look in the ginger’s eyes dissolved and he had a small smile on his face again.

“Would… would you like to come to another one of my games? We have one in a week and I’d really like it if you could come. But if you can’t that’s totally fine because I know you do work and everything and I wouldn’t want to like make anything harder for you.” Shouyou said looking at Kenma. Kenma sat there for a few seconds simply thinking. He might be able to go. He could see if Kuroo was off again and see if he would go with him. While he was thinking Shouyou was watching him. Simply watching him, not pressuring him to answer or making a fuss about him being quiet. Kenma blinked and looked down at his phone on the table.

“I’ll… I’ll text you when I know if I can or not.” He said quietly, quickly sending a message to Kuroo saying he was ready to go. He liked, Shouyou. He did, but they still needed to go to the pet store and they had spent a good amount of time in the café. He normally didn’t spend this much time out in public, he was starting to feel tired, like his energy was slowly draining even as he sat doing nothing but talking to someone. Someone who was insanely cute and bright, and, nope Kenma refused to acknowledge his crush right now. He would not do it.

“Oh! Great! Awesome… yeah.” Shouyou said, this time Kenma looked up, torn away from his thoughts only to see the blush. But he brushed it aside with the excuse of it was a little hot in the lobby.

“Kenma~!” Kuroo sung his name as he walked over to the table. “You ready to go? We still have errands to run my little friend.” He said gently pinching Kenma’s plump cheek. Kenma glared at him. He felt the cheek pinching was a little much but ever since Kenma he’d always been a little chubby but he gained a little more weight since quitting volleyball, he had a bit more. Kuroo liked making it a point to grab his cheeks or poke at his sides and belly to, he said it was because he thought it was cute. Kenma was almost sure it was because Kuroo just liked picking on him but he never stopped him, there was honestly no point.

Kenma didn’t like leaving people, he didn’t want to be rude. He knew that he came off as rude more often than not and he didn’t mean to. He just didn’t know how to talk to people or how to tell them that he’s tired and done talking. It isn’t exactly easy to tell someone that. Like, hey, I’m really tired and totally done talking to you so I’m gonna go now. Yeah that doesn’t sound asshole-ish at all. So, texting Kuroo that he was ready to leave and having him make an excuse was usually how he ended conversations.

“Oh! You have errands? Ah… I should probably get back to work too… some people just walked in. Anyway, you’ll text me, right?” Shouyou asked as he started sliding out of the booth. Kenma nodded and slid out as well, watching the floor as he did. When he was standing, he looked up to say goodbye to Shouyou and found the ginger much closer than he had expected and took a small step back embarrassed to be so close. Shouyou seemed to notice this but instead of saying anything he simply smiled a bright wide smile and held his hand up in a little wave.

“See you later Kenma! Oh! Say hi to Shou for me!” He said, slowly backing toward the counter. Kenma nodded, watching as Shouyou moved, his movements weren’t fluid or graceful, it seemed like he would be a clumsy person. He was so different from when Kenma had seen him on court. There he moved swift, with precision and he flew. Here he was awkward and a little goofy. Kenma couldn’t help the small smile when he saw Shouyou back into the counter letting out a small ‘oof’ as he did.

“Later, I’ll text you.” Kenma said before turning to walk away with Kuroo. Before they got far Kenma noticed Kuroo turn back to look at the counter, he looked around the hipster college student that was currently ordering and met the blonde girl’s eye. He grinned at her and winked making her turn a bright red as she tried desperately to take the student’s order without overheating. Kenma sighed softly and glanced up at his friend. Once they were out of the store he grabbed Kuroo’s shirt sleeve and looked up at him.

“Must you harass innocent people?” He asked watching as the smirk on Kuroo’s face grew. The taller man held a hand to his chest and feigned hurt as he looked down at his friend.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about. I was merely talking with Yachi-kun while you and Shouyou talked. Honestly Kenma, do you think I would harass a sweet innocent soul like her?” He asked semi-rhetorically. Kenma looked up at him with an unamused look before looking back to the street to watch where they were going.

“Yes. I do.” He answered simply. Kuroo laughed, throwing his head back, pulling his arms to his chest. Kenma stumbled with the sudden movement, almost tripping over his own feet as they walked. Kuroo quickly held his arm out keeping him from falling, this only made the man laugh louder. While Kenma loved his friend dearly, he would be the first to admit that Kuroo had the most ridiculous, dorky laugh he’d ever heard.

“Well… you aren’t wrong.” He said wiping away a fake tear. Kenma rolled his eyes, pushing into Kuroo to avoid hitting someone walking the opposite direction. “But, hey, you and Shouyou sat and talked for like thirty minutes. I’ve never seen you have a conversation for that long. He was just jabbering on and you actually looked interested in what he was saying.” Kuroo said, his voice falling into a more serious tone.

“I like listening to him. He doesn’t make me talk and it’s just… easier.” Kenma said with a small shrug as he tucked his chin in letting his hair fall to veil his face.

“That’s good, you don’t feel comfortable around people often. It took you all of high school to warm up to Bokuto enough to actually talk to him instead of talk through me.” Kuroo said turning as they made their way to the train station. Kenma simply shrugged again not having an answer. Bokuto was loud, friendly, touchy, over-enthusiastic, and a plethora of other things Kenma didn’t have time to list. The more he thought about it though, he could see blatant similarities between him and Shouyou. But there was something about Shouyou, maybe it was the way he talked, how he didn’t expect Kenma to talk. Maybe it was just his personality, it felt so calming to talk to him, even just over the phone. Kenma sighed inwardly and shook his head. He was so utterly screwed.

Kenma hadn’t even realized the two of them had gotten on the train. He was so caught up in his thoughts he ended up just following the motions holding onto Kuroo’s sleeve for guidance. The older man could have walked him into a pole at any point and he would have been none the wiser. He sat down beside his friend and pulled his phone out of his pocket, surprised to see a message.

-

_ (13:51) From:: Hinata Shouyou: KENMA!!! Thnx so much for visiting me at work!!! _

__

(14:07) To:: Hinata Shouyou: Sure, it was nice getting to see you. Text me when you’re done with work.

-

Kuroo glanced down at Kenma watching as the blonde fiddled with his phone. He smiled softly to himself staying quiet as they headed to the pet shop. He’d never seen Kenma warm up to anyone this fast. He was happy for him. But he was worried too. He decided to store those worries for another day. After all, now that he knew where Shouyou worked he could always go in and have a talk with the ginger.

 ~~~~~~~~

“Kenma, I really don’t think you need a book on how to raise a kitten.” Kuroo chuckled as he put the book in the cart he was pushing for him. They already had a litterbox, litter, a mat for under the food bowls, food bowl, a collar with a little bell on it, and more toys than Kuroo could count. Right now, they were going to get cat food. Kenma shot Kuroo a look before looking back at the shelves of food, should he get wet or dry food? Was there a benefit to one over the other?

“I don’t know how to litter train a cat. And I would rather be prepared than not know what to do.” Kenma said as he picked up a can of wet food. Kuroo sighed and watched Kenma lazily.

“Get dry food. It’s easier to store and will help his teeth. When you take him to the vet you can ask about a diet for him.” The elder said as he leaned against the cart watching as Kenma put the can back on the shelf and walked down the aisle to grab a small bag of kitten food. Kenma looked at the cart and started picking at his fingers. Was this enough? It seemed like a lot but what if Shou didn’t like anything he got. Maybe he should go back and get the little cat bed that Kuroo talked him out of getting at first. Kenma looked down the aisle, still picking at his fingers as he thought of all the things that could go wrong with him owning a cat, what if Shou grew up and hated him?

“You’re thinking too much.” Kuroo said softly as he reached over batting at Kenma’s hands. The blond blinked and looked at him before shaking his head and tucking his hands into the pockets of his borrowed sweatshirt. Kuroo was always trying to break him of his nervous picking. His fingers were already broken open and scarred from years of the habit. Kenma knew it was unattractive and hid his fingers as best as he could when in public. He didn’t like the picking but he didn’t know how to stop it either. It was the only coping skill that he knew worked, he was afraid to stop it.

“What if Shou grows to hate me?” Kenma asked, he didn’t think before he said it, it just came out. Kuroo blinked and looked at him a little confused for a second. He stood up straight still watching Kenma.

“Are we still talking about the cat?” Kuroo asked cautiously. Kenma blinked and looked at his friend before shaking his head softly. He grabbed the bag of kitten food and put it in the cart.

“Never mind. Thinking out loud.” He said brushing off his statement, continuing to pick at his fingers in the pocket of the sweatshirt. He felt Kuroo’s eyes on him, he knew that the older man was watching him but he chose to ignore it in favor of walking toward the counter.

“Should we get anything else?” Kenma asked. He heard Kuroo scoff behind him.

“No. You have more than enough here. Honestly you should be set for a while.” Kuroo said, following Kenma with the cart. The blond simply nodded and continued his walk to the counter so he could pay. After he paid Kuroo helped Kenma carry the bags back to the train station and to his apartment.

Kenma nearly dumped all the bags in his arms as he tried to unlock his door while still holding them. The two friends dumped all the bags in front of the door before they kicked off their shoes. Kenma made a b-line to the bathroom, wondering if there would be a mess behind the door when he opened it. He slowly pushed the door open and instead of a mess he was met with the sight of a small puff of orange curled into a ball on his blue bathmat.

Hearing the noise Shou’s head popped up and looked at Kenma lazily. Slowly the kitten stretched out and stood, before trotting over to Kenma, rubbing against his leg. Kenma smiled softly and bent to pick the kitten up. Shou squirmed in his arms for only a second before relaxing into them purring softly. Kenma gently scratched the top of the kitten’s head. He walked back out to his living room where Kuroo was sorting through the bags. Kuroo looked up when he heard Kenma walk into the room and smiled. It wasn’t often that he saw his friend smiling, but in that moment Kenma seemed relaxed and at peace. He didn’t look nervous or like he was thinking of the worst possible situation that would probably never happen. Kuroo wasn’t sure if it was the kitten or the boy they had seen earlier. He had a feeling it was a mix of both.

“He already loves you. I doubt Shou could ever grow to hate you.” He said from his spot in the room. Kenma blinked and looked up at his friend seemingly confused for a moment. Kenma opened his mouth to say something before he closed it again.

“Are you talking about the cat?” He asked softly still holding the small animal in his arms. Kuroo could hear the purring from across the room. Kuroo simply shrugged. He wasn’t even sure himself, though he felt that no matter which Shou he was talking about he wouldn’t have been wrong.

“Forget it, now come on, let’s get this stuff put away so I can go write a term paper.” Kuroo said carrying some of the bags into the kitchen. Kenma watched, thinking of what his friend had said. He let out a soft sigh before gently putting Shou down on the couch and following Kuroo to the kitchen.

The whole time he helped Kuroo put things away and get everything set up Kenma could only think of one thing. Shouyou. Even after Kuroo had left, Shouyou was on his mind. He couldn’t help but feel a thin ray of hope, a little voice in the back of his head saying, maybe he does like you. Maybe this really could work.

Maybe, just maybe, he could be with Shouyou.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An asocial, anxious, asexual that has mild agoraphobia. …. His life is an alliteration.

That thin ray of hope he had lasted only a split second because in the next moment Kuroo left to write his paper and Kenma was left alone with a new kitten and incoming texts from Shouyou. He couldn’t do this, Shouyou was so good and amazing and there was no way in hell that he would be interested in someone like Kenma. An asocial, anxious, asexual that has mild agoraphobia. …. His life is an alliteration. His face fell, forehead bouncing off his knees that had been bent against his chest. There was no way this was his life. He lifted his phone to view the screen as he heard yet another chime.

\--

_(18:01) From:: Hinata Shouyou: KENMA!!!!! Sereiously I am so happy I got to see you in person!_

_(18:02) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I wish we took a selfie tho_

_(18:02) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Then everyone would know UR real and my Friend_

_(18 :03) From:: Hinata Shouyou: SO GREAT!!!!_

\--

Kenma looked at his phone as he sat on the kitchen floor beside a small puff that was currently laying on his stomach as he ate out of a dish full of cat food. He glanced over at Shou, his new kitten, for a second before reaching over and gently scratching between his ears. He smiled softly at the small purr he got in return and looked back to his phone.

\--

(18:06) To:: Hinata Shouyou: I don’t look good in pictures, also why do none of your friends think I’m real? Who else would be texting you all day?

\--

_(18:07) From:: Hinata Shouyou: No Clu!_

_(18:07) From:: Hinata Shouyou: P sure they r jelly_

_(18:08) From:: Hinata Shouyou: But its OK cuz Im PB and i can handle them_

\--

There was a moment, a split moment that Kenma found himself thinking very simply, what the fuck. In the next second he looked at his phone and let his head thump against the cupboard door behind him as he held back laughter because he refused to laugh at something so ridiculous.

\--

(18:12) To:: Hinata Shouyou: … … what … …

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_(18:13) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Like PB &J _

_(18:13) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Like… a joke…. It was dum right???_

_(18:14) From:: Hinata Shouyou:  Of cours it was dum_

_(18:14) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Im so srry i made u read that with ur eyeballs.,=.=_

\--

(18:16)To:: Hinata Shouyou: That was probably the dumbest joke that I have ever heard in my short life. And I lived with Bokuto for two months and he painted a mural for his boyfriend that said “Owl be in your heart”

(18:17) To:: Hinata Shouyou: But it was really cute too

\--

_(18:17) From:: Hinata Shouyou: I mean that;s not my only joke i can do better!!!!!_

_(18:18) From:: Hinata Shouyou: Wait cute >.> !!!!!!!!!!!!! _

\--

Shit shit shit, what the fuck! Why did he say that? Why would he say cute, now it sounds like he… like he…. What exactly? Like he’s gay? Pretty sure Shouyou already knew that. That he has a crush on Shouyou, well yeah he does but he sure as hell didn’t want him to know it!!!

_Incoming call from:: Hinata Shouyou::_

He debated, Kenma debated for at least three rings as to whether he should pick up or not because he felt that he had just doomed himself. Is there a way he could talk himself out of it? Probably but there was no way in hell he would be able to come up with it, he was possibly the worst at coming up with something to say.

Finally he slid his thumb over the screen to answer the phone.

“Umm… Hello?” He asked softly as he waited for Shouyou’s voice to ring through.

‘YOU THOUGHT MY JOKE WAS CUTE?!’ His excitement could be heard through the phone and it made Kenma’s heart speed up. He didn’t know if it was the good or bad kind of anxiety.

“Well… It was really bad but so bad that it was funny.” Kenma explained with a soft voice, okay possibly the bad anxiety.

‘Was it so bad that it made you laugh?’

“I refuse to laugh at corny jokes.”

‘Oh…’

“Out loud, I did smile though. I couldn’t laugh in front of Shou, what would he have thought of me?” Kenma asked slowly, slowly, feeling his heart slow.

‘OH! Shou! How is the kitten? And I’m pretty sure he thinks you’re amazing just like me. I mean, if someone saved me from that rooster head I would think they were really really amazing.’

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re not very subtle?” Kenma asked hiding his smile behind his knees as he looked over to Shou who was currently done with eating and prancing out of the kitchen to explore. “Wait, rooster head?”

‘Yeah, your friend, I’m kind of bad with names. But his hair reminds me of a rooster. Don’t tell him. He kind of scares me.’

At this Kenma smiled and let out a soft laugh.

“That is his bedhead and he is one of the most harmless people that you will ever meet.” He said falling into the comfortable groove of talking with Shouyou on the phone.

‘Wait, who has bed head like that, that is not natural. Kenma, I hate to tell you this but… your best friend is an alien…’

“I know, it's the only explanations for why he would be studying astrophysics for fun.”

‘I forgot that you were both freaky smart!’ Shouyou whined before letting out a loud huff. ‘OH! OH! OH! Kenma! We have another home game this weekend. Do you think you’d like to maybe come? If you want we can meet up afterwards. It would be fun, we can go get dinner maybe and like walk around… unless you have something better to do, which like of course you would you have an important job and clients and you do a bunch of stuff and…’

“Shouyou…”

‘Yeah?’

“I- I would be happy to come to your game and umm hang out afterwards.”

‘OH MY GOD!!!!! REALLY!! That is so great, ahhh so so so great! Okay umm… I think I just maybe woke up my roommate… Ahhh hey… no… okay… sorry… I know… Oh studying for a test… Sorry, sorry... Umm Kenma… I have to go. Aone might kill me… I’ll text you later! Can’t wait to see you this weekend!!!’

“Umm me either. See you then. Good night Shouyou…”

‘Night Kenma!’

As soon as the phone was hung up Kenma felt his heart rate spike and his eyes blown wide open as he realizes what he just agreed to. The very next thing he did was send a text.

\--

(18:53) To:: Tetsu: HELP!

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a horrible author and never have motivation but Imma try guys!!! Imma try! Let me know if anyone is even still interested haha


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